Once the conversion is made, the grayscale tones can be varied quite
easily with curves. Before the conversion is made, changing the color
version alters the grayscale results. In truth, she does most of the
work after conversion and makes extensive use of masks and adjustment
layers. She frequently repaints some details as well. If she
shortchanged anyone, she wouldn't be getting the huge volume of very
expensive work that comes her way. She contends that working before and
after the conversion is where the real difference can be achieved. To
her mind, the recipes are a waste of time and a bit silly. But her
manipulation skills far exceed those of most practitioners. So the way
she works may not be for everyone.
Paul
On Oct 31, 2005, at 7:02 PM, Shel Belinkoff wrote:
Photoshop greyscale conversion provides an arbitrary translation of a
color
scene. It uses the same percentages (approx 30% red, 59% green, 11%
blue -
I've seen somewhat different figures, but they're all about the same)
regardless of the image and the colors it contains. A big drawback to
using the conversion is that it just smashes all three color channels
together, and should there be a problem with any given channel - if a
channel is damaged or excessively noisy - those artifacts and problems
go
into the greyscale conversion as well. There's no preview and you have
no
control over the percentages and the final outcome.
I believe that your professional retoucher is shortchanging her
clients.
There is no one true way to make conversions, no best way. A truly
skilled
retoucher might be familiar with several techniques, and will choose
the
one best suited to the image and desired outcome. While it's true that
some techniques may be complicated and time consuming (such as
selecting
and splitting channels), and offer minimal advantages over a simpler
technique for some images, there will be times when knowing how and
when to
use such a technique is appropriate.
What is a "theoretically perfect B&W film?"
Shel
"You meet the nicest people with a Pentax"
[Original Message]
From: Rob Studdert
On 31 Oct 2005 at 17:50, Paul Stenquist wrote:
PhotoShop grayscale conversion provides an accurate translation of a
given color scene. It's quite close to what the values would have
been
if shot without filtration.
IOW as if shot was made on a theoretically perfect B&W film?
