Maybe I'm just overlooking something in PS but is there a way to batch together a bunch of jpg's (80 files) and convert them all to b&w?? these were all taken before i started shooting RAW and so it's all I've got to work with. thanks for any help.

Find your favourite b/w action and batch it with the image processor script in PS.

that worked great. thanks a lot! i'm curious what stuff you do to make portraits look best in b&w so i can create the best action. i'm new here on osp so i'm looking to learn anything possible.

thanks again for your help so far!

In general I never use b/w - I use a duotone to get a toned look.

And there's no single best way for converting an image. It depends on the specific image, how it was shot, and the skin tones. I would only ever batch actions for proofing.

I've found the best way of having the greatest control of b&w is:

Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation (click ok)

In the hue/saturation controls adjust the saturation slider to -100
Then go to the drop down box at the top (it should read Master at the moment) and choose the next color down which is Red and move the Lightness slider one way or the other according to your image & preference.

Do the same with all the colors in the drop down menu & you should have a great tonal range in your b&w image.

This method really works like a charm... Not sure how to set this up as an action though!

Thanks for your help!

For another layer of control (pardon the pun) on your technique, try this:

1. Create a hue/Saturation adjustment layer and click OK.
2. Create a 2nd Hue/saturation adjustment layer and click ok.
3. On the adjustment layer that is at the top of the stack, set the saturation to -100.
4. On the adjustment layer that is just above the background, set the blend mode to "color." Double click on the layer and you can jack with the hue, saturation or lightness controls to bring out different tones in the image.

There are so many ways to convert to black and white...another way is to go to channel mixer which ( i don't have PS with me) but I think it is under the edit>channel mixer
once you get to the channel mixer window, click on the monochrome box at your bottom left then adjust sliders red, green, blue to taste. Typically the more you increase in red the brighter and more contrast the skin tone receives.
You can then also fine tune this through curves as well.
yeah I like the duotone method too, one can gets some really incredible results!

How is the b&w/sepia tone accomplished?

best way to do ALL of this is Lightroom. I have 5 or 6 different b/w looks, I can batch select as many as I want, apply that preset and I'm done. Same with sepia. SUPER easy.

A dose of this:
http://www.mattantonino.com/tutorials/LR004/index.html

With a dash of this:
http://www.mattantonino.com/tutorials/LR008/index.html

And you're done.

There are a lot of things that people consider sepia. I usually do this:

Open Hue & Saturation
Click the "Colorize" box
I use 25 as the Hue
I use 15 as the Saturation
Click OK

This can easily be adjusted to suit your tastes and be made into an action and batched.

thanks tracy and matt

matt- looks like LR is a GREAT tool. I'll have to get that soon and check out your tutorials.

i love this place