Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

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The Digital Photographer's Software Guide
BW Workflow Pro
Vendor: Fred Miranda
Purpose: Convert color to black and white, with dozens of preset options
Description
Brazilian photographer Fred Miranda, famous for his independent site for all things
Canon, offers a range of software including this versatile black and white converter.
It has manual modes if you want to make all the settings yourself, but it also comes with
loads of presets. There are 8 preset filter selections, 32 duotone presets, 18 tritone
presets, 6 quadtone presets, 3 film grain presets, and 4 dynamic range presets.
BW Workflow Pro gives you a live preview, lets you work in 16-bit mode, and even has
a batch capability. There is an Add Grain feature to emulate the look of film grain. Add
Dynamic Range opens up the shadows. The duotone, tritone, and quadtone modes
allow you to create some excellent sepia and color-wash effects.
Comments
Several photographers have achieved excellent results with BW Workflow Pro. One or
two have complained of a lack of features, particularly for tweaking the subtle tones in
portraits. Black and white photographers who stick with film should certainly try this
or a similar package.
Version: BW Workflow Pro 1.5 (2008)
Plugs into: Photoshop 5.5 and later
OS: Windows and Mac
RAM: 128MB
Supported file formats: As host
Price level: Approx. $30
Address: San Clemente, California
www.fredmiranda.com
RetroGrade
Vendor: Cybia
Purpose: Turn color into black and white with the classic look of film
Description
RetroGrade is an advanced Photoshop plug-in that turns a color image into a black and
white one with the classic look of film, with its deep blacks, well-defined midtones
and excellent local contrast. To do this it offers a lot of different controls: 11 sliders, a
large dialog and preview area, reset buttons, percentage buttons for fast zoom, and 70
preset files “to help get you started.”