I don't believe I've ever heard you discuss your process for digital B&W conversions. Is there a favored tool, or is it simply Photoshop/Lightroom, or both?
Andy
Short answer: Lightroom (mostly), Photoshop (occasionally)
In particular, the invention of the real-time grayscale mixer (the "color sliders" in HSL/COLOR/ GRAYSCALE panel of the Develop Module) is perhaps the greatest tool of all in Lightroom. No kidding. For us long-time b/w photographers, it's like having every Wratten filter ever invented at your instant disposal. As Arnold would say, "Unbeeweevoeboe."
The same basic tools are available in Photoshop in the RAW workflow, but I much prefer the non-destructive workflow in Lightroom. The only thing I wish I could do in Lightroom that is available in Photoshop is the Invert command (Image/Adjustments/Invert). (Perhaps one of you very clever folks out there can tell me how to do this in Lightroom?)
With my abstracts in the Wakarimasen project, a number of those images are tonally inverted which required a trip to Photoshop. Curiously enough, I simply inverted the color image in the RGB file and then, back in Lightroom, converted it to b/w with the grayscale mixer from this weirdly inverted color image. A strange workflow, but it worked.
I used to use Russell Brown's b/w conversion Photoshop action, but I've found such convoluted approaches simply unnecessary now.
BTW, here is a tip I find not everyone is aware of: If you can't get quite the right b/w conversion you want with just the grayscale mix sliders in the HSL/COLOR/GRAYSCALE panel, you can also tweak the white balance TEMP and TINT controls in the BASIC panel independently of the grayscale mix sliders. Very handy. If there are limitations to the b/w tones you can achieve in an image, I'm not aware of them.
Finally, don't be surprised if the result of aggressive color movements creates some blotchiness. On some occasions, after I've done the grayscale sliders, I'll take a converted image into Photoshop where I can run Noiseware Pro on it to eliminate some of the exaggerated "noise" created in the process. Alternatively, sometimes I'll paint in a mask in an area in Lightroom to weaken the color shifting affect. So much flexibility it almost makes me sneeze.
