Hera, 50mm 1.4 - Now how do I best convert to B&W?

Im rather pleased with the results of my latest series of headshots of my friend Hera. She is pleased as well...

However she has requested a couple in B&W

I usually get good B&W results from Canon's DPP durring raw conversion. In this case I am already beyond that.

Anyone want to give it a try themselves? or give me a recomendation for this photo?

Thanks,

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Here is my attempt:

I use the Gorman B+W conversion plugin for Photoshop but I have lost the link due to me formatting the hard disk recently - I'll try and find it again. I just used the default conversion settings and fiddled with curves a little.

I could fiddle with curves more to give it a bit more "pop" but I was only doing a quick job.

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Another option is just to desaturate the image and fiddle with curves then - I personally find that this method sometimes leads to flat looking pictures, it depends on the image.

I used PS- Channel Mixer.
Under Channel Mixer I ticked Monochrome.
Set the Red to +54%, Green to +26%, Blue to +43% and Constant to +3.

Next apply a new layer, Highpass filter to 5%.
Hardlight to 35%
Flatten image.

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Very nice shot. I went in to The Print Shop 20 and selected "make black and white". Then I slightly increased the brightness and contrast. This software is not very sophisticated so I can use for basic things. Keep shooting and keep posting.

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Using Photoshop, I went to Image, Adjustment, hue/saturation and turned the saturation all the way down after selecting to colorize the image.

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Dusty wrote in post #2140243
I used PS- Channel Mixer.
Under Channel Mixer I ticked Monochrome.
Set the Red to +54%, Green to +26%, Blue to +43% and Constant to +3.

Next apply a new layer, Highpass filter to 5%.
Hardlight to 35%
Flatten image.

You got it right. The others are too dark and too soft. Nice work.

Here's a slightly different look for it, I'm using Picture Publisher. I first converted the format to greyscale, then I played around with a few effects, gamma correction to adjust the lightness, unsharp mask to sharpen it up a bit, stretch detail to bring out some details and light studio which allows me to simulate aiming lights at various points to brighten up the face area.

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I use the adjustment layer and the gradient tool in monochrome, then do another adj l;ayer and use the channel mixter to get it just the way you want. Works great.

Here are some useful resources from The Lights Right Studio.
Hope they help.

My attempt

Hellashot wrote in post #2143080
You got it right. The others are too dark and too soft. Nice work.

See, that one looks way too bright and washed out on my pretty well calibrated monitor..

Mine is a bit dark, though, once I'm looking at it again it could have done with those few seconds more of curves.

thought I would have a go... loads of contrast and lower the brightness.... then did some noise removal and a little tweaking......

I did this for comparison more than anythnig else, as I am no pro at this

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I notice most of these are very dark in the hair and jacket, losing a lot of detail, also the white blouse is blown out in a couple. I don't have a calibrated monitor, so is this just me, or do they look that way to everyone? Do you all prefer the darker look? I tried for an overall lighter look to get the details, while trying not to get the whites too bright... pros, cons?

I usually use the channel mixer. Start with 70-30-5 in sliders and adjust to preference.