B/W Styler follow-up

[TonyK]

Today, with a slight over cast, was a good day to go get some early morning shots. The following shows were taken with the Lens Baby 3G but what I want to show off is B/W Styler.

B/W Styler allows me to think and work in B&W, not PhotoShop, not in some abstract mathematical way, but as film, development time and paper grades.

To illustrate the impact for B/W Styler I am including both the color shot and then the converted shot. The only difference between the two images of each set is one is color and the other is B&W. All pre-processing, such as cropping and color correction was completed prior to doing any B&W work to provide an even basis for comparison.

This first two sets were processed as Tri-X @ 800 ISO (IIRC) with long development time and #4 contrast paper. A green lens filter effect was also added.
Color:

B&W:

Color:

B&W:

This set of images were processed as Plus-X shot at ISO 200 with long development time and #4 grade paper, adding in a blue filter.
Color:

B&W:

I'll have to say I'm impressed with B/W Styler and the $50 spent feels to be well spent. There is a free trial of the software but it does put LOTS of notices on the converted image making it unusable. It does not prevent you from playing with it and seeing if it fits your workflow; you just can't use the finished, converted image.

Enjoy,

[JoePhoto]

I do like the way B&W Styler allows you to treat the process like a darkroom, it's deffinitely a throwback to my college days when I spent hours & hours in the B&W lab. However once you've been doing digital B&W as long as I have, the process seems more archaic and leaving a little more to relative guesswork. The thruth about B&W Styler is that each mode is a preset of settings developed to emulate an old style or combination of styles and can be duplicated in PS... albeit it's just more fun (and easy) to use B&W Styler. That said the results from B&W Styler are very true to what they emulate.

While I won't find myself using B&W Styler for the majority of my work, (I have a preferred process in place,) I won't hesitate to endorse it to others. Thumbs up for the plugin!

Why won't I use it for my work? I gave it a try but found that my own action set (Lab process) "Magic B&W" gives me preferred results for my style of photography. My actions are not a blanket treatment in that the action stops, waits for user imput on adjustment layers, (allowing for unique adjustments,) then resumes. I have my "look" the way I want it and the results can be applied very rapidly. Plus, I couldn't quite emulate my look in B&W styler...

[TonyK]

I was always fond of my Tri-X shots from high school. The look and feel of the image. Even the actions in my collection did not get me exactly where I wanted, and there are some good actions here.

Like any other tool, there will be times I turn to a different action or filter to achieve the effect I am looking for.

[JoePhoto]

Don't get me wrong, I love my Tri-X stuff too... and B&W Styler really does nail the look digitally. I suppose it will have a place in my toolbox, it'll just be kept in reserve for the majority of my work.