Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:40 pm
This is somewhat of a generalization, because there are so many variables involved, but I feel comfortable in stating the following:
A very high level of digital B&W quality can be achieved from shooting the original in RAW, then processing for good overall color, and finally converting to B&W. This sequence provides a great amount of control potential in determining grayscale tonal rendering.
In my experience, the most versatile and effective B&W conversion currently comes from using a color channel mixer such as is found in Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom's (LR) grayscale mixer in the LR Develop module.
Afterwards, the B&W conversion, as nice as it may initially look, can usually be further adjusted to taste in Photoshop or other appropriate imaging software.
For best continuity and quality in this progression of steps, it is advisable to work in the highest bit-rate possible (usually 16-bit), and save each step along the way as a TIFF (or PSD) file instead of a JPEG. Saving as a JPEG, if necessary, should be the last step in the sequence.
The RAW capture > color-processing > Lightroom (grayscale mixer) B&W conversion > Photoshop-fine-tuning workflow is allowing me the control to produce some of the most—if not the most satisfying black and white I have ever done. This isn't a casual statement, as I've been very involved in shooting, processing and printing my own B&W for many years and I am, as always, concerned with tonal quality.
Ken
Last edited by ken_bat on Fri Aug 01, 2008 4:18 am, edited 2 times in total.