Digital b/w tonal range

[BALDYMAN]

In the past (before they invented digital) i used to develop and print my own b/w pictures. Gave up because of the cost (and other interests). now i have gone back to photography using digital. The problem i am experiencing is the production of full tonal range . film and enlarger printing i feel gave me the ability to produce from full black to pure white with lots of detail in shadows and good mid tones. Cant seem to achieve this with digital even with extensive manipulation in p/s . is this a thing with digital or am i missing something. Any advice comments are welcome.

 

[Jonnyreb]

hmm - tough one. What do you do in PS? channel mixer / filters / contrast etc?

You could always HDR then convert to mono......

 

[EOS_JD]

Curves/Levels, channel Mixer, B&W Adjustment layer (CS3) all allow you to get the maximum detail from your image. Shooting RAW also allows you to increase the dynamic range of your image. By using one RAW image you can get an extended dynamic range image to show details in the shadow areas and by shooting three RAWs you can get a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image with an amazing amount of detail from whites to blacks.

Film has a higher dynamic range than digital (depending on what film you use). However with digital it's so much easier.

Converting to B&W is an art in itself. There are many actions/plugins to help.

Try chanel mixer as a start. An excellent tool for creating great B&W images.

Regards
Jim