Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/05/08

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Subject: [Leica] B&W conversion methods
From: kcarney1 at cox.net (Ken Carney)
Date: Fri, 08 May 2015 11:16:51 -0500
References: <55492852.4090001@cox.net> <55492C32.7060903@lighttube.net> <QMFn1q01C07g8Sg01MFpha@mac.com> <55495758.8080408@cox.net> <RCUh1q00307g8Sg01CUiFj>

Hi, Adam

I have not printed this version yet.  I currently have the Epson 3880 
printer and will be keeping an eye on the Epson P800 (also a 17" width) 
to see if the promise of better blacks holds true.  I think that is the 
area, maybe the last area, where improvement is needed for b&w as 
compared to wet prints.  I have tried some of the specialty b&w inksets 
and continuous flow conversions but they are all in a landfill somewhere 
now (they are for folks who print daily as the vendor told me and I 
didn't listen).  Yes, I did add some TriX grain to this one.  I use 
TrueGrain (www.grubbasoftware.com).  They used blank film stock in 
various developers and then scanned the results, for example TriX in D76 
1:a at 20C.  The grain added by software such as SEP is of course a 
digital approximation.  Both of the gallery images are 1024x700. Thanks 
for looking and commenting!

Ken

On 5/7/2015 7:28 PM, Adam Bridge wrote:
> I think your revision is the better choice, at least to my eye on a 
> monitor. For an image like this, though, the proof is in how it prints and 
> that would be an interesting process.
>
> I also think highly of using Tony Kuyper?s luminosity masks to develop 
> images. They offer a powerful tool to work with challenging images. I 
> don?t use them all the time but they?re well worth the effort when they 
> are needed.
>
> It?s funny but adding a bit of grain to an image also makes a difference 
> as well. I?m not sure why this is the case. I wonder if people who haven?t 
> seen a lot of black and white printing would experience it the same way as 
> those of us who have lived with it most of our lives.
>
> A momentary digression:
>
> We?ve been watching many of the ?30 for 30? documentaries on ESPN while 
> Jan recovers from her knee replacement. Especially in the basketball 
> stills from the 80s there are some killer black and white images. I admire 
> the photographers who made them because they weren?t shooting thousands of 
> images in bursts of 50. They had a few rolls of something like Tri-X and a 
> motor drive. And skill. And an eye. It shows.
>
> Now back:
>
> All of the images I saw had film grain. It really added to the image in my 
> eye. Maybe it?s what I expected. Or maybe it?s something else: like how a 
> bit of hiss in an audio recording makes the highs sound brighter (a 
> documented psycho-acoustic phenomena).
>
> I believe you have added grain to images, Ken, in the past, to good 
> effect. Maybe here?
>
> Also, what?s the full size of these images? I somehow think the original 
> is larger?
>
> Adam
>
>> On 2015 May 5, at 4:50 PM, Ken Carney <kcarney1 at cox.net> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for commenting and I think you are right, that I went a little 
>> overboard.  Here is hopefully an improvement:
>>
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/kcarney/_MG_2525BWTX2.jpg.html
>>
>> Ken
>
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In reply to: Message from kcarney1 at cox.net (Ken Carney) ([Leica] B&W conversion methods)
Message from jhnichols at lighttube.net (Jim Nichols) ([Leica] B&W conversion methods)
Message from kcarney1 at cox.net (Ken Carney) ([Leica] B&W conversion methods)