Digital Black and White
Our specialist black and white digital photography page
We've lots of articles on this site covering black and white digital photography and other monochrome issues.
If you are just starting out, then we'd suggest this particular article might be of interest:
Black & White digital photography- an Introduction
This page is a reference point for all our digital black and white photography related articles and reviews. It covers all aspects from taking photos for b/w use, processing them (converting to b/w) and producing black and white prints.
Black and White Photography
The image above is a special black and white printer test image. Keith Cooper has created it to test the quality of black and white printing.
It's quite a harsh test, but covers most areas where printers have difficulties, such as shadow detail, colour casts, and linearity.
Why Black and White
There is a resurgence in interest in black and white photography. I'm reminded of this quote from someone who's original work, and ability to explore new techniques I admire:
- "I eagerly await new concepts and processes. I believe that the electronic image will be the next major advance. Such systems will have their own inherent and inescapable structural characteristics, and the artist and functional practitioner will again strive to comprehend and control them."
- - Ansel Adams
forward to his book "the Negative", published January, 1980
Black and White photography articles on this site
Choosing a basic printer for black and white - what are the options? [January 2012]
3 (9) quick tips for better B&W - Some brief thoughts after Keith was asked for some B&W photography tips [September 2011]
Black and white photography - thoughts and influences
From a specialist black and white photography magazine article, this extended version discusses some of Keith's thoughts about his approach to black and white landscape photography. [September 2010]
Black and white printer choices
From a short Summer 2010 magazine interview. Keith discusses some of his current choices when it comes to printers, paper and ink for digital black and white printing. [June 2010]
Digital Black and White Photography.
In 2007, Keith was interviewed about digital black and white photography for a magazine article. We have an expanded version here covering some of his thoughts, techniques and tips for those thinking of trying out black and white. Hopefully also of interest to those with black and white film experience, still looking at moving to digital [September 2007]
Printing your black and white photos
In part two of the interview, Keith discusses his approach to printing his black and white photographs. Covering such things such as printer, ink and paper choices. [September 2007]
Jane Fonda and Me... A print from previously unseen photographs taken on the set of the making of Barbarella in 1967 - points out how producing prints from scanned film needs different techniques to images from digital cameras. [June 2009]
All Digital -Two years on
Keith has been back in Colorado, and has written a short article discussing some of the changes in his photographic technique over the years. It has examples of some new black and white prints, including details about how they were taken, and some of his thinking during the process of going from a colour raw camera file to an image for printing as a large black and white print.
A 35mm film based black and white landscape photographer tries digital
Keith moved from film to digital capture for his landscape work. This article was written at the time and gives some comparisons and results, along with some of his first impressions. Since writing it, he has not actually shot any more film at all...
A Digital only trip to Colorado
This second article covers Keith's first serious use of the Canon 1Ds for landscape work. It reference various pictures on this site and discusses how going digital has affected his photography, both black and white and colour.
If you move your mouse over the image you can see some of the different effects produced by different B/W conversion methods. this is from Black and White digital photography - an Introduction
General Photography - with relevance to B/W
Digital's Analogue
Robert Fisher looks at why HDR, the zone system for black an white and ETTR are actually rather similar.
B/W Image manipulation tools and techniques
Nik Silver Efex Pro V2
Review of the latest specialist black and white conversion plugin from Nik Software.
Nik HDR Efex pro
Review of Nik's HDR image processing software. Examples concentrate on a realistic approach and use of HDR for night-time black and white shots.
Using the 7D at night
A short article written as part of Keith's testing of the Canon 7D. It includes some tips for optimising RAW conversion for noisy high ISO images.
Producing a black and white print
An article describing the full process Keith went through in producing a black and white landscape print. From taking photographs, through editing the image and final printing. Includes a downloadable version of the original colour image as an example to work on. [May 09]
Nik Silver Efex Pro
Provides a wide range of colour to black and white conversion options and effects. Includes accurate film emulsion and grain simulations, and selective tools for enhancing different aspects of the resulting images. [December 08]
Power Retouche Black/white studio
Review of a Photoshop plugin giving a wide variety of effects when converting images from colour to black and white. Includes film types and the ability to selectively alter 'zones' of images.
Convert your 8 bit RGB images to 16 bit before converting to black and white?
If you are going to be doing much in the way of image manipulation (curves etc) to your black and white image, it may be better to convert your 8 bit colour images (such as JPEGs) into 16 bit colour first. Sometimes 8 bit RGB can be equivalent to 10 bit greyscale. It sounds a bit odd, but there are differences and they -might- make a difference to your final prints.
Black and White digital photography - an Introduction
The basics of producing high quality black and white photographs from your digital camera. Lots of examples give a feel for the different ways you can try, and some ideas for your own work. An extended version of an article that Keith first wrote for Canon in their CPS magazine (see picture above)
Converting Colour images to Black and White
A large collection of examples showing the many different ways of converting a colour image into Black and White. There are lots of subtle differences that can produce more satisfying results than simple desaturation (turning the colour down :-)) As yet, there are no true black and white digital cameras, so for best results you need to do the conversion yourself. The good news is that this gives you many more creative possibilities, and you can use any camera for digital black and white.
Photoshop Elements - removing colour casts and converting to black and white
Two more examples from Keith's free tutorials and introductory courses. These examples cover correcting colour casts caused by bad lighting and an introduction to getting black and white from colour. Although written for PS Elements, they are relevant for many other image editing applications.
Convert to BW Pro 3
A review of the latest black and white conversion photoshop plugin from 'TheImagingFactory' The software allows you to simulate many conventional black and white darkroom techniques, including different film stocks and grades of print papers.
Black and White Printing - articles and reviews with B/W related content
Most printer reviews below have significant sections devoted to B/W print quality and techniques.
Printers
Paper
Articles/reviews
- DxO V7.2 - full review of the latest version of DxO Optics Pro includes numerous refinements to processing, speed and workflow. It can produce colour files from some RAW images that Keith thinks produce better results when converted to B&W [January 2012]
- Using an Infrared converted Canon 5D mk2 - Introduction to digital infrared photography [November 2011]
- Book Review - Digital Masters: B&W printing - by George DeWolfe [July 2011]
- Unwanted colour tints in monochrome printing - The effects of different lighting on some B/W prints [January 2011]
- True Black and White - Review of the monochrome printer driver for canon large format printers. [August 2010]
- ImageNest RIP - Review of a printing package that provides layout and printer control for printers of any size. Particularly useful for making better use of large format printers and roll paper. Uses existing printer drivers, including 3rd party ones such as QuadToneRIP. [March 09]
- Using the X-Rite ColorMunki for improved Black and White printing
A revised version of our B/W test image that incorporates a randomised 21 step greyscale strip for use with QuadToneRIP and generating B/W icc profiles for improving prints using print modes like Epson's ABW black and white printing mode [April 08]
- Printing your black and white photos
In part two of an interview, Keith discusses his approach to printing his black and white photographs. Covering such things such as printer, ink and paper choices. [September 2007]
- PrintFIX PRO V2
The updated software for the PrintFIX PRO gives much better profiles and adds support for improving all kinds of B/W printing (inc. QTR). The article looks at what has changed to the software and the extra features.
- Using QTR and PrintFIX PRO for better black and white prints
With the PrintFIX PRO, you can take readings from a greyscale test target, and create luminance only icc profiles. These can easily improve black and white printing set-ups. It can even be used to improve the results from systems like Epson's new 'advanced black and white' print settings.
- Black and white printing with MonoChromePro inks and QuadToneRIP
A reviews of the specialist B/W pigment based ink set from Permajet. Results are compared using different printer drivers, including the shareware QuadToneRIP (QTR) package. There is also some setup and curve generation information for QTR. The results are also compared to the ImagePrint RIP that Keith uses on his Epson 9600 for his fine art landscape prints.
- DIY Black and White Inkjet printer profiles
A simple way of generating a 'profile' for better digital black and white printing. Using Photoshop curves and a scanner, Keith explains how to get much better monochrome prints. Not the precision of a full ICC profile, but it works -- and gives a useful insight into how profiles work.
- Downloadable B/W printing printer test image
A really harsh (but fair) test for your B/W printing system.
- Greyscale printer test image
Greyscale image for testing black and white digital printing.
- Printer test images
Links to all our own Black and White test images, a copy of the Colour PDI image, and links to other sources of printer and lens resolution test images.
B/W related links on our main photo info page
FYI: I've set up a LinkedIn group (~3300 members) for people interested in all aspects of Digital Black and White photography: Digital Black and White
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Explore our site... Digital Black and White photography and printing - some of Keiths thoughts, techniques and tips for those interested in a digital approach to black and white. We've lots of original Photography Articles and Photography Reviews on the site to help anyone interested in photography. New site content appears on the What's New page.
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