B/W Film Simulation

January 6th, 2007 by Seva

Current verison is 1.1 

Browsing around the web I found several references (here is one of them) to black and white conversion that simulates tonal response of various black and white films. I tried them and results are pleasant. The technique uses Channel Mixer presets

    Agfa 200X: 18,41,41
    Agfapan 25: 25,39,36
    Agfapan 100: 21,40,39
    Agfapan 400: 20,41,39
    Ilford Delta 100: 21,42,37
    Ilford Delta 400: 22,42,36
    Ilford Delta 400 Pro: 31,36,33
    Ilford FP4: 28,41,31
    Ilford HP5: 23,37,40
    Ilford Pan F: 33,36,31
    Ilford SFX: 36,31,33
    Ilford XP2 Super: 21,42,37
    Kodak Tmax 100: 24,37,39
    Kodak Tmax 400: 27,36,37
    Kodak Tri-X: 25,35,40

You can apply various filters to the film as well. By choosing Filter option you can apply yellow, orange, red, infrared and green filters to the film.  

 

I’ve written a Script-fu module for Gimp to simplify B/W conversion. I added seferal other useful (IMHO) tools for B/W conversion in a separate layer - use this setting if you would like merge result with the original image.

 
Try to use "Value" merging into Luminosity layer. I found this to be useful for making color gamma more pleasant.

local contrast enhancement - removes haze dropping gamma - produces deeper darks and it is particularly good with 50/50 setting. This combintion was suggested by brianvhoto in Flikr B/W forum

New in version  1.1

        - added IR film simulation
        - added color filters applied before b/w conversion
         - added saturation option
        - Gimp 2.3.15+ support
Download

  •  Version 1.0 - BW-Film-Simulation-1-0.zip
  •  Version 1.1 - BW-Film-Simulation-1-1.zip

17 Responses to “B/W Film Simulation ”

  1. 1

    Josh Says

    Nice tool!

  2. 2

    David Says

    It’s a pleasure to use your S-Fu module! I’m keen on GIMP UFRaw, and now this… new “digital darkroom” is rising! :)

    Thanks for your work.

  3. 3

    Seva Says

    Thank you guys..
    Let me know if you want to add something to it…

    Cheers
    Serge

  4. 4

    Björn Says

    I fixed the script for 2.3 with the new tiny-fu engine, where set! is not declaring variables anymore (so just 2 let* sprinkeled in)

    Björn

    — Black and White Film Simulation.scm 2007-02-25 14:26:18.000000000 0100
    Black and White Film Simulation.scm~ 2007-02-25 14:09:31.000000000 0100
    @@ -29,19 29,17 @@
    ; Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

    -(define (create-new-layer img drawable)
    - (let* (
    - (layer (car (gimp-layer-copy drawable TRUE)))
    (define (create-new-layer img drawable)
    (set! layer (car (gimp-layer-copy drawable TRUE)))
    (gimp-image-add-layer img layer -1)
    - layer))
    -)
    layer)

    (define (script-fu-bw-film img drawable film rename new-layer increase-local-contrast auto-levels drop-gamma)

    ; Start an undo group.

    (gimp-image-undo-group-start img)
    - (let* ((bw-layer))

    (if (equal? new-layer TRUE)
    (set! bw-layer (create-new-layer img drawable))
    (set! bw-layer drawable)
    @@ -133,9 131,9 @@

    (if (equal? increase-local-contrast TRUE) (plug-in-unsharp-mask 1 img bw-layer 30.0 0.25 9) ())
    - )

    ; Complete the undo group
    -

    (gimp-image-undo-group-end img)

    ; Flush the display

  5. 5

    Björn Says

    The first diff still had a bug, so here is the new version for 2.3

    — ../../BW-Film-Simulation-1.0.scm 2007-02-25 14:39:50.000000000 0100
    Black and White Film Simulation.scm 2007-02-25 14:38:10.000000000 0100
    @@ -29,17 29,19 @@
    ; Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

    -(define (create-new-layer img drawable)
    - (set! layer (car (gimp-layer-copy drawable TRUE)))
    (define (create-new-layer img drawable)
    (let* (
    (layer (car (gimp-layer-copy drawable TRUE))))
    (gimp-image-add-layer img layer -1)
    layer)
    )

    (define (script-fu-bw-film img drawable film rename new-layer increase-local-contrast auto-levels drop-gamma)

    ; Start an undo group.

    (gimp-image-undo-group-start img)
    -
    (let* ((bw-layer))
    (if (equal? new-layer TRUE)
    (set! bw-layer (create-new-layer img drawable))
    (set! bw-layer drawable)
    @@ -131,9 133,9 @@

    (if (equal? increase-local-contrast TRUE) (plug-in-unsharp-mask 1 img bw-layer 30.0 0.25 9) ())
    -
    )
    ; Complete the undo group
    -

    (gimp-image-undo-group-end img)

    ; Flush the display

  6. 6

    matt Says

    thanks for your work, now i have something to make good b&w conversions !

  7. 7

    Seva Says

    Thank you Matt… Please let me know if you would like to add anything tho the script…

    Cheers
    Serge

  8. 8

    Seva Says

    Bjorn
    Thank you for the patch. I will incorporate it in the next release

    Cheers
    Serge

  9. 9

    Nicola Says

    Thank you for this tool. If it’s possible you could add a preview and some colored filter like orange etc.

    Cheers

    Nicola

  10. 10

    Seva Says

    Hi Nikola
    sure, in the next version I will try to add these features.

    I am also looking for the tips on other conversion techniques… If you have anything in mind, please let me know…

    Cheers
    Serge

  11. 11

    Seva Says

    Hi Everybody
    Version 1.1 of the plugin has been released today. Please give it a try…

    Cheers
    Serge

  12. 12

    Arno Krüger Says

    I did some editing and i think it is good to show the differences between the films.

    try http://www.flickr.com/photos/ak42/sets/72157600251107866/

    comments welcome :)

    btw : great tool ;)

  13. 13

    Bernd Says

    Hi,

    unfortunately the new layer function does not work in gimp 2.3, could you please fix it?

    Thanks,

    Bernd

  14. 14

    Bernd Says

    …also there’s no colour channel mixer plugin anymore in gimp2.3, it’s integrated in the colour menu now.

  15. 15

    Seva Says

    Hello Bernd
    I am not sure what you are talking about. The B/W simulation plugin works in 2.3.15 release. I checked release notes for 2.3.18 and could not see anything that would indicate the problems you are describing. Could you give me more background on the problem?

    Seva

  16. 16

    Larry Says

    I’m not seeing the IR Filter in Gimp 2.2.. Does it only work in 2.3?

  17. 17

    Seva Says

    Hi Larry
    Since Kodak HIE is an infra-red film, IR filter is available under Kodak HIE option.

    Cheers
    Seva

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