Black and White Filters

I use black and white filters all the time, I like the flexibility, and all the options.

The 4 programs that I used the most are onOne Perfect BW 8, Photoshop Plug In and Standalone, Nik Silver Effex 2, Photoshop Plug In, Alien exposure 5, Photoshop Plug In, and Topaz BW effect 2, Photoshop Plug In, they all offer a lot of flexibility, all of them have free trial, try one at the time, play with it, see if that respond to your needs, you can also try Film Noir, a Standalone Program just got it, very interesting program.

I took these 2 shots during a trip to Louisville Kentucky, these girls where promoting the day of the little black dress Oct. 19, never heard of it before, but apparently it’s to celebrate Coco Chanel introduction of the little black dress 85 years ago, quite interesting, now on I will wear my little black dress every year on that date.

I found these 2 street shots interesting, I am using black and white to change the mood of each image, have a look, and if you have any questions about the programs, use the comment section.

For all the black and white transformation, I only click on the preset, didn't play with it, except for my custom one, I normally play with each options a lot but for this post I didn't want to change the look of the presets I used, the only thing I took out was the frame, when it came with the preset and reduce the grain effect.



To get Perfect Effect 4 for Free click on the link on the right of the page

This is the original, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 50mm prime lens, f6.3, 1/125 ISO200

 

I used Alien Skin Kodak Tech Pan Preset

I used onOne Holliwood Portrait Latte Preset

I used Nik High Structure Preset

This one is very different, Topaz as a lot of different filters, this one is Cyan and Pink,

This one is my custom transformation, using Nik, starting with Pinhole Preset, changing the film for Agfa APX 400, Toning Sepia 20, lowering contrast, and protecting the shadow, I also used a control point to add a bit a of brightness on the face of the girls in the corners. This custom one was done to send the attention to the 3 girls in the middle, and their interaction.

This one was kind of fun, I like the different expressions, serious, laughing, and dreaming, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 50mm prime lens, f11, 1/20, ISO 200

I used Topaz White Chocolate Preset

I used Nik High Structure Preset

 I used Alien Skin Low Contrast Kodak x 400 Preset

I like this one a lot, I used Onone Grade 5 Preset

As you can see, the options are huge, just depend of what you are looking for,

To get Perfect Effect 4 for Free click on the link on the right of the page