Understand your software needs for digital black and white photography.
A multitude of photo editing software exists in the marketplace that allows for black and white conversion of images. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a photo editing program that does not convert to black and white. Choosing a photo editing program that suits you and your photographic needs can be a challenge with so many possible options. Understand your desired outcome for working with black and white digital images first before you begin researching your software programs.
Professional Editing Applications
Professional photo editing software programs will provide the most in-depth methods for converting color images to black and white. Adobe's Photoshop and Corel's Paint Shop Photo Pro are industry standards for professional editing. These programs provide multiple methods of removing the color from an image, which may be ideal if you are editing for professional or fine art purposes. Having control of the various color channels, even with the actual color data removed, will allow you to apply intricate edits to the gray tones of a black and white image. Such a program will provide a variety of options for printing images, giving you greater control over the necessary settings for creating a fine art print.
Consumer Photo Editing Programs
If you enjoy working with black and white photography, but do not need the depth and scope of a professional program, a consumer editing application will suite your needs. These programs offer black and white conversions with some degree of tonal editing to enhance certain areas of the image. Consumer programs employ an easy to understand user-interface, and the learning curve is much smaller for these programs. Such programs are usually bundled with a large degree of consumer-based editing functions, like scrap-booking applications, slide-show creation and fun graphic overlays. They allow for a great deal of creativity when working with images without having to understand professional graphic design programs. Hundreds of programs are on the market for consumer-based photo editing and TopTenReviews.com offers an excellent review of the most commonly used programs.
Free Editing Software
Simple black and white conversions can also be accomplished with free photo editing software, such as Google's Picasa. This application is downloaded directly from the Internet and does provide special effects buttons for black and white conversion. The program has a limited capacity for controlling the toning of the image so keep this in mind when choosing a free editing program. Picasa makes online photo sharing easy with uploading and gallery features that are easy to use and send to your friends and family.
Choosing the Proper Programs
Choosing a photo editing software program depends on several factors. Understand your computer abilities and the learning curve necessary for using the program. Photoshop is a powerful, professional-level program and will take a longer time to learn than a consumer-based program, such as Serif's PhotoPlus. Consider your long-term goals for photo editing when choosing a program. If you wish to build a solid background in photo editing and might be considering a career in digital photography, the money and time investment for Photoshop would be justified. If you intend on working with just your family photo albums in a black and white capacity, than a free program like Picasa will suit most of your needs. Know your computer's capacity for working with these software programs as well. Photoshop requires a great deal of processing power and RAM memory, particularly if you are working with large, uncompressed fine art prints. An older computer with limited processing power simply can not handle a program such as Photoshop.
