Digital B&W Evaluations

I've been pursuing digital B&W in earnest for almost 12 months now and although I'm still not convinced it surpasses B&W film. However, this view needs to be couched in what is "my" framework for evaluating digital B&W. B&W to me is about the tonality; good strong blacks and whites with midtones that don't "grey" out the image. On the other hand, I dislike hard "pepper & salt" B&W images, devoid of midtones with absolutely no shadow details. Hopefully this provides an outline as to what I'm chasing...

Recently, Leica release its M Monochrom dedicated B&W version of the M9, but as much as I'm both a B&W fan and an avid Leica M user, I have reservations about this camera. The first thing it does especially when paired with Leica glass, is offer oodles of resolution - and that is where my problem begins! To me, B&W is an abstraction and uber sharpness just doesn't feel right or necessary. In addition, in recent weeks, even Leica has been recognising the work of a number of named photographers who were early adopters of the M Monochrom. This started me evaluating again...

The images above are a small crop from one of these photographers images, which I am only using to navigate to my next point about digital B&W conversions. The top crop is the original (in the sense this is how the original photographer chose to render the image). To my eye this offers an image too smooth for a B&W feel so I started looking at generating simulated grain. The following 3 crops have had nothing more than grain added via three different applications.

The grain filter supplied with PS CS5 is not too bad at all; it lacks some subtlety in its application but overall it was acceptable. The only "got ya" and its a show stopper is that it only works on 8-bit images.

Nik Silver Efex seems to be everybody's favourite for B&W conversions. I tried it and have been using it in parts for most of the last year. It's been a like, but mostly hate, relationship as I find it useful for somethings but never capable of producing a consistent "look" B&W conversion to begin working from. I custom work every image, however, because digital is so malleable I find it very difficult to maintain a consistent look across conversions with Nik Silver Efex. In addition, which is more retrospective now, I feel a good part of the problem is 1) Nik Software having a "half-hearted" attempt at providing a list of film stock appearance which in turn 2) is separate from the treatment of the image. In the end I'm never happy with the output.

Given I'm referring to the crops above, I have only seriously investigated the simulated grain component recently on the back of looking at Leica M Monochrom images. The original upper image - especially the complete image - was turning out to be my B&W image equivalent of fingernails down a blackboard.

A downside I was seeing with Nik Silver Efex, specifically as it related to grain simulation, was no ability to control grain in the highlights - especially as they started to blow out. As I hunted around for options I came across DxO Labs FilmPack 3, which solved a number of issues I wasn't even looking to solve at the time. Basically, the software provides a number of pre-canned B&W film stocks (also has transparency and colour neg offerings too), and in the expert version, which I would recommend, allows you control over the intensity of the effects as well as colour filtering.

So what did DxO FilmPack 3 solve... From the lower crop above, for me, it gave the best simulated grain available, which comes back to my initial framework of what B&W is to me. I've come to the conclusion that one important aspect of B&W tonality comes from the grain structure. When its not there, even fine grain, something just doesn't feel right. The other issue it solved was achieving a good and consistent digital conversion-base. I don't get too caught up in what specific film stock the selection is trying to emulate as this in itself is somewhat impacted by the colour rendering of the image being offered to the software to begin with. Rather, I tend to choose between four or five that work for me tending to increase grain on fine structure films stocks or reducing it on the grainier ones. The result being that I can consistently get very good base conversions before starting any custom work.

 Same location: top is HP5+, lower is Nex 5n + DxO Labs Filmpack 3

The outcome of this has resulted in firstly purchasing the software well within the 31 day trial limit, and secondly - and probably more importantly - I'm now redoing EVERY digital B&W conversion I've done over the last year. The difference is that good; output looks much more like film and for some conversions that I could "never" get right, DxO Filmpack solved.

With no affiliation to DxO, in my opinion, this is the best B&W conversion software on the market today...

Further developments in digital B&W

As a continuation from the previous post, I have been spending a considerable amount of time lately investigating whether or not digital capture can produce B&W images with the tonality of silver halide films - the lack of this characteristic has been the stumbling block for any move to digital for me to date. I am not trying to emulate a specific emulsion although individual attempts are looking like certain film types, although its varied. The caveat here is that I have not, nor have I attempted, to replicate such. My only objective has been to find a workflow that, outside of controlled lighting environments, can give me the tonality I love in traditional films.

As with all images I will post in this discussion, the camera is the Sony Nex 5n. This image above had been my first, what I would call, success in this direction. Given other work I have done previously, I think its very reminiscent of HP5+. The downside was that this outcome took me a long time to achieve. A lot of experimentation, rework and going down numerous unproductive rabbit holes. I was beginning to feel I knew what the basic secret was but not everything so the next was to try and achieve this with some repetition and start to build an end-to-end workflow.

Last weekend I went shooting for 45 minutes in Singapore's Little India on the way home with the Sony. I felt I had a few interesting shots and proceeded to work on them that evening. What follows is the result of structuring a new workflow with a number of shots under some varying circumstances...

As a note, my object in B&W images is not to achieve that high contrast look with blocked up shadow that is common today. I like to see a full tonal range with smooth transitions and good mid-tone separation.

 

The end result of this is that I'm reasonably happy with the output. To my eyes, the tonality is aesthetically as I might expect from traditional B&W, with a tendency to have a more modern look such as a Delta film  - that part I can live with. Although I'm sure it will get tweaked as I keeping working images, I am happy with the results of the new workflow.

In summary, I find digital B&W, with this workflow, usable for a lot of my volume work. However, it still lacks the true tonal qualities of traditional B&W - especially in the larger formats. I will still continue to use and work digital for B&W but my heart remains with film. To that end, I just bought another film camera - a Rolleiflex TLR

Daze of Black & White

I am predominantly a B&W photographer. There is something about the medium that draws me in and its a medium I'm a little opinionated about. However, I'm concluding that not all B&W is equal; the traditional realm of silver halide film and gelatine prints has, in the main, given way to the digital age with its instant gratification and ease of workflows. But after some serious attempts to move away from the traditional approach, I find myself returning with an even stronger passion.

For myself, the search for an alternative was initially about getting time back; work loads and kids were becoming rather demanding, and developing film was an easy target for eradication. The first approach was to shoot C41 colour film and convert; and to a point, this approach can deliver some very pleasant results.

The two shots are converted from the new Kodak Portra 400, which is a very nice film no matter how you use it. As much as I like many of the results I get from a C41 conversion, I've never been 100% happy with them, although the more you use this process the more, I think, you tend to forget what B&W can look like.

I also find with colour film conversions you can very quickly create a tonal mix where something just doesn't look right through over working the colour channels for mixing - I tend to process all my images to a degree so the potential is always there. One way to remove that element in the process is to use a C41 chromogenic, such as Ilford's XP2 - above. As much as I like the way this image turned out, others on the same roll weren't so convincing in my view.

As much as having labs develop my C41 film and being able to use ICE during scanning to clear dust and scratches, there was always an even easier, faster solution lurking out there - D-I-G-I-T-A-L. To date I have 10 cameras, all film based and, outside of what comes in my phone these days, have never owned a digital camera.

Well, after a recent holiday back to Australia, where my wife's Canon G9 died, I decided to replace it with the new Sony Nex 5n. Its primary purpose is to shoot the kids but I also took the opportunity to get a digital camera that I felt I could use to begin getting a feel for digital B&W.

As much as my wife will live on the kit zoom, I splashed out and bought an adaptor for my Leica M lenses and the electronic view finder. All in all, its a nice small kit, however, I dislike what the crop factor does to my FoV. So last week I managed to go out street shooting with Getty Image's top Hollywood entertainment photographer, Kristian Dowling

Kristian Dowling

I spent the day shooting in Singapore's Little India and China town with the Leica 21mm Asph Elmarit as my only lens. In general, the results from this lens, camera combination were outstanding

One in colour to show a general shot; this was with -2EV dialed in

but as for B&W, hmmm...

At a first pass, I felt I could live with this workflow but as day after day progressed I found myself reworking and reworking these images only to end up with either high contrast images with blocked up shadows - which is not my style - or just a collection of mushy mid-tone greys. The latter is how I would describe the previous four examples of the best output.

This last one is probably what I would consider the best of all the conversions but what it tells me is that getting a "good" [in my view] B&W from digital is very hit and miss. Shots in low contrast environments tend to lend themselves better but nothing is guaranteed.

As a comparison, after processing these images I went back and worked a previous B&W image that was, also shot in Little India, and on Ilford HP5+

Although an image I like a lot, I will at least concede its probably nothing special but the tonality and depth it holds is magic. Yes it has grain and no its not as pin sharp as digital but these are the only characteristics of an image. And after some reflection I have come full circle to realise that nothing, NOTHING does B&W like B&W film does...

My final compromise in returning to the medium is a move from powder developers to liquid ...days of HP5+ and DD-X are just around the corner