Preview images in black and white

[w0lf]

Hi

Running PM 4.4.3.3 on Mac OSX 10.4.8

I am trying to work out a way of previewing colour images in black-and-white without actually changing the files (as in running them through a batch to desaturate them).

It's for the benefit of a client who will look at a contact sheet and would like to see them in black and white straightaway (hot from the camera so to speak).

It can be a completely sloppy black and white - literally just for a quick preview.

I remember in olden, less techincally advanced days, I could simply go into the monitor control panel and switch the display to monochrome.

Is there a clever way to do this in PM, using a colour profile maybe? I must admit I am a little stumped as there seems to be no answer for such an obvious thing. Will I need to buy an old black and white monitor?

Thanks in advance,

Wolf

[Kirk Baker]

Wolf,

Running PM 4.4.3.3 on Mac OSX 10.4.8

I am trying to work out a way of previewing colour images in black-and-white without actually changing the files (as in running them through a batch to desaturate them).

It's for the benefit of a client who will look at a contact sheet and would like to see them in black and white straightaway (hot from the camera so to speak).

It can be a completely sloppy black and white - literally just for a quick preview.

I remember in olden, less techincally advanced days, I could simply go into the monitor control panel and switch the display to monochrome.

Is there a clever way to do this in PM, using a colour profile maybe? I must admit I am a little stumped as there seems to be no answer for such an obvious thing. Will I need to buy an old black and white monitor?

You wouldn't need a different monitor.  If you have Photoshop you can do soft proofing with a black and white profile with passable results.  The same can be done with Sepia tone.

There is no way to do this in Photo Mechanic other than to choose a black and white profile as your default profile.  If you have images that Photo Mechanic cannot determine the profile then the black and white one would be used.  The problem then would be that Photo Mechanic is very good at determining what profile was used when an image was shot on your camera and thus the fallback default (black and white in this case) profile would not be used.

-Kirk

[w0lf]

Dear Kirk,

thank you for your feedback. Of course I have photoshop, but the point is I don't want to have to take it into PS.

I take a few hundred shots in a sitting, and want to be able to view them in b/w straightaway. (You can see it's impractical to use PS).

The operating must have the capability to show a pic in b/w. Lightroom offers an easy way of previewing images in bw; so does Capture One - but I like the leanness of PM and would like to stick with it.

Can you introduce a "B/W preview" button?

Please please?

Wolf

[Kirk Baker]

Wolf,

thank you for your feedback. Of course I have photoshop, but the point is I don't want to have to take it into PS.

I take a few hundred shots in a sitting, and want to be able to view them in b/w straightaway. (You can see it's impractical to use PS).

The operating must have the capability to show a pic in b/w. Lightroom offers an easy way of previewing images in bw; so does Capture One - but I like the leanness of PM and would like to stick with it.

Can you introduce a "B/W preview" button?

Please please?

I'll consider it a feature request.

-Kirk

[w0lf]

A way to view everything on Mac OSX in black and white is to use system preferences / accessibility pane / "use grayscale". This will then turn the entire screen to black and white.

This, for my purposes, does the job for the time being. However, you might be able to utilise this function in PM?

best,

Wolf

[Kirk Baker]

Wolf,

A way to view everything on Mac OSX in black and white is to use system preferences / accessibility pane / "use grayscale". This will then turn the entire screen to black and white.

This, for my purposes, does the job for the time being. However, you might be able to utilise this function in PM?

Unlikely.  What you're after is called "soft proofing" and with it you can view your images in any color space you choose, like that of your printer, sepia tone, or b&w, etc.  Soft proofing would be a far more flexible feature for me to add, and in addition it would work on Windows too.

-Kirk

[sreidvt]

Wolf,

thank you for your feedback. Of course I have photoshop, but the point is I don't want to have to take it into PS.

I take a few hundred shots in a sitting, and want to be able to view them in b/w straightaway. (You can see it's impractical to use PS).

The operating must have the capability to show a pic in b/w. Lightroom offers an easy way of previewing images in bw; so does Capture One - but I like the leanness of PM and would like to stick with it.

Can you introduce a "B/W preview" button?

Please please?

I'll consider it a feature request.

-Kirk

Hi Kirk,

I agree with the OP that this is a very important feature for some of us.  I've just switched back to Mac after years on PC and your program is the only one I've found that can replace most of the features I used constantly in Breezebrowser Pro.  In BB Pro, Control W toggles a preview between B&W and color and this is a feature I've always used heavily when editing my own work, preparing articles, etc.  I'm thinking about reviewing Photo Mechanic soon and the lack of this B&W toggling option (as well as some folder operation limitations and a few other quirks) are the only weaknesses I've found in an otherwise excellent program.  Please do consider the B&W preview function.

Cheers,

Sean Reid
Publisher
Reid Reviews

[Kirk Baker]

Sean,

thank you for your feedback. Of course I have photoshop, but the point is I don't want to have to take it into PS.

I take a few hundred shots in a sitting, and want to be able to view them in b/w straightaway. (You can see it's impractical to use PS).

The operating must have the capability to show a pic in b/w. Lightroom offers an easy way of previewing images in bw; so does Capture One - but I like the leanness of PM and would like to stick with it.

Can you introduce a "B/W preview" button?

Please please?

I'll consider it a feature request.

I agree with the OP that this is a very important feature for some of us.  I've just switched back to Mac after years on PC and your program is the only one I've found that can replace most of the features I used constantly in Breezebrowser Pro.  In BB Pro, Control W toggles a preview between B&W and color and this is a feature I've always used heavily when editing my own work, preparing articles, etc.  I'm thinking about reviewing Photo Mechanic soon and the lack of this B&W toggling option (as well as some folder operation limitations and a few other quirks) are the only weaknesses I've found in an otherwise excellent program.  Please do consider the B&W preview function.

What are these "folder operation limitations" and "other quirks"?

-Kirk

[Andre Ringuette]

A possible solution to the "need to show client in B&W right away" but still be able to work with color images:

-Shoot RAW
-Set Parameters to shoot in B&W

You will have b&w files to work with right away and process a presentation in PM. But if you need to work on full color files later, when you process the RAW files, you can change them back into color. All the information is still there.
*DISCLAIMER* I only use the Canon DPP for my RAW processing and the above suggestion works. I can't say that this is still teh case in the Nikon software, PS, Aperture or anything else. Test first.

Cheers.

[stevieray]

Just wondering if any type of support for quickly viewing photos in B&W has been added to PM yet?  This is a real problem, and jugging by the thread, it has been for a long time for a lot of people. 

Thanks.

[Kirk Baker]

Just wondering if any type of support for quickly viewing photos in B&W has been added to PM yet?  This is a real problem, and jugging by the thread, it has been for a long time for a lot of people. 

No, this feature has not been implemented.

-Kirk

[badbluesman]

I would like to second the call for a B&W grayscale preview button or command in the next version of PM.  I am using v. 4.5.4 and will never upgrade until this feature becomes available.  I have called for it many times over the years on this forum and there have always been others asking for it whenever I posted.  It cannot be a very difficult feature to write into the software.