Best software for BW conversion (standalone or PS CS3 plug in)

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I usually do my B&W conversions in PS, using the excellent functions that are included in CS3. However, some shots, for some reason, seem to elude me. I thought I would look into software (either CS3 plug ins or standalone applications) that could do this for me - to produce consistently good results with ease.</p>

<p>Any recommendations?</p>

<p>All the best,</p>

<p>Ed</p>

<p><a href="http://www.niksoftware.com/silverefexpro/usa/entry.php">Silver Efex Pro from NIK software</a> .</p>

<p>Silver Efex for is good design and simplicity of use, easy to get good result.</p>

<p>The BW own CS4 tool, is the one i use + level + curve etc..but you need to know how to use the tool and control them..not the easiest way when you start, but for me its a matter of minute even second to get the starter look of my BW.</p>

<p>Thanks guys. I too have good results most of the time using the BW function in CS3, combined with curves and a few other tricks. But would like to compare with such an application...</p>

<p>Again, a vote for Photoshop. If you know what you're doing, no auto plug-in can produce complex conversions as illustrated here:</p>

<p>http://photoshopnews.com/2009/03/19/advanced-color-to-black-and-white-conversion/</p>

Though I currently use LR for B&W processing, I'd recommend Silver Efex (not an "auto plug-in") for superior editing tools

and rendering. Will be changing soon as almost everything I <a href= "http://www.citysnaps.net/blog/">do</a> ends up in

B&W.

<p>I've been using Nik Silver Efex. The control is better and there are more options than Photoshop or LR conversion. The method of dodge/burn (U-point) is extremely well-implemented, as is the grain. Film emulation is excellent and a few of the presets work well, some aren't so good. A recent example that's going up as a store display...<br>

<br /> <center><img src="http://www.spirer.com/barcodejune2009/slides/_MG_9876-Edit.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="467" /> <br /> <em> Barcode Event, Copyright 2009 Jeff Spirer</em></center></p>

<p>Siver Efex Pro.... in my humble opinion better than photoshop (and much easier to use).</p>

<p>BW conversion is so good and flexible in CS4 that I cannot imagine investing in other third-party software for this purpose.</p>

<p>Dan</p>

<p>I find the BW conversion in CS4 to be painful, unintuitive, and lacking in anything that someone who grew up in the darkroom would find familiar. Try Silver Efex, it's free for 15 days, and you will see the difference.</p>

<p>I tried Silver Efex for the trial period but ultimately did not purchase it. I found that 95% of what I do with B&W I can accomplish through Lightroom with the remaining 5% in Photoshop. In addition to the link Andrew posted, I would suggest looking at <a href="http://lightroom-news.com/2009/03/02/improved-grayscale-conversions/">Martin Evening's </a>link on improved greyscale conversion in Lightroom. While you don't get to use layers, you do have a lot of control over individual color sliders and as I note, you can get 95% of the way there (in fact for many of my B&W photos I don't need to go to Photoshop at all).</p>

<p>Convert to Black-and-white Pro - but only works up to and including Windows XP (all iterations)</p>

>>> Convert to Black-and-white Pro - but only works up to and including Windows XP (all iterations)

 

 

I know... Since I went to an Intel-Mac I've really missed Convert to B&W Pro. It was awesome for getting the look I liked.

Great tools with everything adjustable in a single live-view non-modal window.

<p>I also liked Convert to BW Pro and used it regularly. When I switched from a PC to a Mac, I missed it. I don't really understand why they didn't either open source it or sell it to Adobe, who would have had a far better BW tool. I wouldn't have bought Silver Efex if it was still around, although Silver Efex has a lot of features that BW Pro could have used.</p>

<p>I would say that Silver Efex by Nik is far an away the best I have seen having tried a trial version of it. However this software is pricey to buy and you may not wish to make the outlay.<br />There are some free plugins that actually don't do too bad a job of conversion to monochrome. From memory (I am not at my own PC right now) there is one by Cybia - Fotomatic that works pretty well and another called Optik Verve Labs - Virtual Photographer which has a wide range of effects available within the plugin. There is another BW conversion utility that I have used a lot too but I am sorry I cannot recall its name. I know that does not help much but it at least indicates that there are a few out there.<br />A quite ambitious piece of free software that I think is one of the more interesting I have used is Amphisoft Phototinter. This allows you to open a (color or black and white) photo and save its color and tonal profile in the plugin for future application to other photos. In general it works pretty darn well but I have not used it a lot for straight black and white - more for effects like applying a tone like sepia to an image. Its free so you may wish to try it.</p>

<p>Mostly I just use Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 which I bought because its more powerful than PSE and cheaper than PS. It has a BW cobnversion tool that involves a color wheel. Just select the filter effect color and go from there (a few extra settings are available to tweak the result as well.) Works about as well as anything I have seen and is dead easy to apply.</p>