Achieving this look

I've come across some photos from the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. On one hand, I do feel dreadful for using such photos to ask about their style, but, this kind of look is somehow peculiar to crises areas. It looks like TRI-X, but somehow I doubt someone would use film in a situation which can become breaking news.
I might be mistaken, and do forgive my inexperience if so. That being said, if someone can at least explain what I'm seeing on these links in means of post - processing(hopefully, I'm not breaking forum rules, since I'm providing the links not embedding the images) I would be grateful.

https://ichef.bbci.co.​uk …n/_98352830_boy​_getty.jpg

https://ichef.bbci.co.​uk …362766_camptent​_getty.jpg

https://ichef.bbci.co.​uk …a83-af2e-a033ba601bc1.jpg

https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk …8379153_ro_sept​976-nc.jpg

Not having access to the EXIF it is difficult, monochrome conversions would seem odd, but maybe that is what the BBC wanted for some reason. The other thing that comes to mind is that the photographer was shooting with a Leica M Monochrom, the worlds only monochrome only digital rangefinder camera. The Leica M series of cameras has been quite popular with correspondents in war zones since they were introduced in IIRC 1954. The whole idea of the camera is to get that sort of look.

Alan

You can push clarity and highlights in LR. Drop Saturation to 0, to convert to black and white. Play with shadows and blacks to get look you are after. At least this applies to the 1st image. The NIK filter Silver Efex Pro, which is a free plug-in from Google will work with LR or Photoshop. It can give you many options to play with as well.

Chet wrote in post #18476044
You can push clarity and highlights in LR. Drop Saturation to 0, to convert to black and white. Play with shadows and blacks to get look you are after. At least this applies to the 1st image. The NIK filter Silver Efex Pro, which is a free plug-in from Google will work with LR or Photoshop. It can give you many options to play with as well.

I would never just drop the saturation to zero to do a black and white conversion in any software, it is a really poor option. You are usually much better off using a specific conversion tool, be that the Black and White filter or channel mixer in Ps, or using Lr/ACR (including opening RGB data in ACR as the Camera Raw Filter) and choosing Black and White as the treatment. My personal preference is for Lr/ACR since the Black and White Treatment offers the highest number of colour channels available in the mixer for an Adobe product. IIRC I think it actually has one more channel than even Silver Efex.

The biggest reason to use a system that allows chanel mixing is so that you can achieve tonal separation between different colours that would otherwise end up the same insipid mid tone. In general you will probably want to set things up so that you darken blues and lighten reds, or the converse, while leaving the greens neutral. This gives a look that is much closer to what you would expect to see from a black and white film. The norm would be darker blues, and lighter reds, as this is similar to what you get from most panchromatic films. The degrees of lightening and darkening on film would also be affected by using the various colour filters. I have actually built my own presets in Lr to match the results that I would have got using Ilford FP4 and HP5 combined with various colour filters, and then printed on a mid contrast grade paper.

I tried Silver Efex, but IMO the film simulations for FP4 and HP5, and even Tri-X, all look like the results of printing on a really hard (contrasty) paper, printing on Grade 5 should really be reserved for a very thin negative, not as standard. If you then throw on one of the colour filter options the image just ends up looking totally wrong to the way I remember fresh prints looking. I suppose that my problem is that after spending so many hours in the darkroom as a youngster, striving for a good quality print, that is the look I'm now after in a black and white conversion. Silver Efex really seems to not be designed to produce what would have been called a good print by many.

Alan

Do you use PS?

Thank you for the answers, I might have been a little scarce in my description. Despite knowing my way around Lightroom, I've had no success in replicating this peculiar image style (meaning the color, or the "feel" of the image). It reminds me so much of images done by James Nachtwey, and I know he used Tri-X for a lot of hit award winning work.

I tried using Tri-X, but I guess I don't have the team he has, because I've seen that people edit his photos, according to his parameters. Still, experience in editing does wonders.

I use PS, but rarely, I rely mostly on Lightroom right now.

These look like they used an extreme clarity plugin like topaz adjust and then converted to monochrome.

Chet wrote in post #18476044
You can push clarity and highlights in LR. Drop Saturation to 0, to convert to black and white. Play with shadows and blacks to get look you are after. At least this applies to the 1st image. The NIK filter Silver Efex Pro, which is a free plug-in from Google will work with LR or Photoshop. It can give you many options to play with as well.

Nik was my first thought as well. I didn't convert to B&W until I came across Nik because I wasn't liking the conversion results I was getting from other programs. It has many options from filters to grain. You can also have it mimic many different old B&W films.

It's worth a shot, especially considering the price.

BTW, it works better when you shoot RAW.

Strahinja wrote in post #18477672
Thank you for the answers, I might have been a little scarce in my description. Despite knowing my way around Lightroom, I've had no success in replicating this peculiar image style (meaning the color, or the "feel" of the image). It reminds me so much of images done by James Nachtwey, and I know he used Tri-X for a lot of hit award winning work.

I tried using Tri-X, but I guess I don't have the team he has, because I've seen that people edit his photos, according to his parameters. Still, experience in editing does wonders.

I use PS, but rarely, I rely mostly on Lightroom right now.

I have used this as a PS plugin for about 10 years. It offers all the film types .Unfortunately there is no plugin for LR

http://powerretouche.c​om/black-white_studio.htm

Strahinja wrote in post #18477672
Thank you for the answers, I might have been a little scarce in my description. Despite knowing my way around Lightroom, I've had no success in replicating this peculiar image style (meaning the color, or the "feel" of the image). It reminds me so much of images done by James Nachtwey, and I know he used Tri-X for a lot of hit award winning work.

I tried using Tri-X, but I guess I don't have the team he has, because I've seen that people edit his photos, according to his parameters. Still, experience in editing does wonders.

I use PS, but rarely, I rely mostly on Lightroom right now.

Post up a link to a raw file that you want to replicate this look. I'm up for the challenge (not using plugins).

It's ackind of HDR look called Tonal Contrast. Nik has it in it's Colour fx collection. Here's an example.

Currently, I'm away from home, but if I don't completely lose my mind and forget to post the RAW I guess we can make a little editing game. Thank you all for responses, I guess I'll just have to work harder tweaking the bars in LR and PS!

what did you do convert to black & white then use tonal contrast

Kind of. Other way around actually. It's Matt 'On 1' Klowoski's TC medium LR preset, with shadows boosted and clarity turned down a bit. Then if exposure needs up or down I do it, and bump up NR if needed. Gives a lot of detail. Not recommended if your subject has a lot of wrinkles, especially around eyes as it accentuates them. Most women have Orangey skin, so I'll boost the orange channel to avoid their skin looking dark, and men have reddish skin, so I drop that to match skin tones in PP.

Chet wrote in post #18476044
You can push clarity and highlights in LR. Drop Saturation to 0, to convert to black and white. Play with shadows and blacks to get look you are after. At least this applies to the 1st image. The NIK filter Silver Efex Pro, which is a free plug-in from Google will work with LR or Photoshop. It can give you many options to play with as well.

BigAl007 wrote in post #18476388
I would never just drop the saturation to zero to do a black and white conversion in any software, it is a really poor option. You are usually much better off using a specific conversion tool, be that the Black and White filter or channel mixer in Ps, or using Lr/ACR (including opening RGB data in ACR as the Camera Raw Filter) and choosing Black and White as the treatment. My personal preference is for Lr/ACR since the Black and White Treatment offers the highest number of colour channels available in the mixer for an Adobe product. IIRC I think it actually has one more channel than even Silver Efex.

Couldn't agree more. I'm surprised that anyone would do this.