B&W know-how – “The essential guide to black and white photography” by David Nightingale

Released last week, new e-book from Digital Photography School titled “The essential guide to black and white photography” is a great primer into world of black and white conversion of digital images.

The e-book is written by David J. Nightingale, Creative Director of photography training site Chromasia, and the instructor for very popular black and white photography course on Udemy.

Back to the e-book. “The essential guide to black and white photography” starts with introduction to choosing images for black and white conversion and which images better leave in color. There is actually a similar section towards the end of the book, reiterating some of the points, but with black and white portraiture in mind. This section is one of the biggest strengths of the e-book.

Next, there is a section on gear, but since there is nothing particular about digital black and white shooting as opposed to shooting in color, nothing revolutionary here. Except of the tidbit on digital dedicated black and white cameras- did you know somebody makes and sells those?

Then we have description of basic conversion tools – how to do it in Lightroom, and several different ways to do it in Photoshop. I appreciate the stress author puts on use of color filters to get the best possible conversion right off the bat.

No modern handbook will be complete without section on plug-ins, I was surprised to learn about DxO Film Pack, this one is not typically covered side by side with Topaz and Nik. The section on post-processing explains well nuts and bolts of use of Curves and masks in Photoshop workflow to take your black and white images to the next level. The e-book ends with section on toning, presenting, again, multiple ways to achieve the results.

Take a look below on the Content image below to see the index of the chapters.

“The essential guide to black and white photography” is currently sold at Digital Photography School for $19.99. In this price, you will receive the 128 pages e-book and accompanying “10 Recipes for amazing black and white photography”, value of $9.99. Also, you will be entered into prize drawing if you make your purchase between now and September 13, 2014.

So, if you were waiting for just the right, basic e-book to guide you through black and white conversion, post-processing, and choosing/taking just the right images to run through this process, “The essential guide to black and white photography” in there for you to buy now.

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