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How to covert to B&W


intex

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If I have 7Mb pixs generated with a Leica (not in raw format), and I am currently using Lightroom, what is the best method to print B&W prints, approx. 8x10 or 11x17 ?

 

1. Should I convert the files to Greyscale in Lightroom, then print using a 5 color inkjet printer

2. Should I concvert to Greyscale in Lightroom, and export the file in .jpg or .tif and give to a professional B&W shop?

3. Should Ijust give him the cropped tif or jpg file and let him do the greyscale conversion?

4. Do I need to get a new printer???

 

These are street scenes of Paris, that for the life of me could not find in Paris. The only ones I finally found were at a stock photo house, that would not sell me the digital file for personal; use.

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You need a properly color-managed workflow to get decent B&W output on inkjet printers. By properly color-managed, I mean 1) your monitor needs to be profiled, and 2) you need a good paper profile specifically for your printer, or even better, a dedicated B&W printer (a-la cone inks or quadtone RIP). As an alternate to #2, if you have a recent Epson printer, their internal advanced B&W printing driver is excellent. If you do not have those, then your best bet is sending your files to a professional printing house. Lastly, you are almost always better off sending the print house a full RGB tiff file.

 

Cheers,

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>Should I convert the files to Greyscale in Lightroom

 

To this question, my advice is Yes. Lightroom has possibly the best grayscale conversion controls going at the moment. Aperture was good, Lightroom is better in that if offers even finer control should you wish to use it.

 

 

>Should Ijust give him the cropped tif or jpg file and let him do the greyscale conversion?

 

No. You should use the control at your disposal (above)

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Can you recommend a US lab that does B&W, and is reasonably priced.

Thanks

 

 

Actually no, I cannot... Doesn't mean there are not any, it's just that I print professionally for myself and have not had to find labs that do good digital B&W. If you cannot find one on your own, PM me and maybe I can maybe help you get this particular job out the door.

 

Cheers,

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I took a workshop on digital printing from Cone Fine Arts in VT, and was very impressed by their piezography work. Just amazing stuff. They sometimes will do prints for others.

 

They got me into a RIP (I went with Imageprint, to stay in the Mac world) and with an Epson 4000, am able to make pretty good BW prints. Save as RGB TIFF, but you can tone it in Imageprint. Pretty good stuff.

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