I have the Pro version of BWP6 so will update my comments on BWP4 to BWP5 with a little guessing about the features they've left out, as they don't seem to have the handy comparison option on their website any more. Apologies if I mention something that doesn't exist.

To avoid any doubt I highly recommend this, I paid for BWP after an earlier GAotD and have always seen it as a great decision.

Also apologies (though it's nothing to do with me) in advance for what a pain it is likely to be to register if you haven't registered one of their programs before - you can use a temp e-mail for the download but I'd use a real one to register with Franzis, so it won't be as annoying next time.

Note Franzis will send you their newsletter, and they still forget from time-to-time and send English speakers e-mail in German. Don't stress about it.

Here's my getting-started instructions on using it:

To start off load an image and experiment with the canned effects on the left side. Note the boxes at the top of the left panel filter the effects that are listed in the panel, so ignore them initially.

Also try the Film Type on the right side panel (which should start on the “Finalise” tab). At the top of that panel you can choose a colour filter to apply to the original (assuming it's a colour image, the same as putting a coloured filter on your camera lens and using B+W film, which is common with B+W photographers). Either click on a preset or use the sliders (the presets just move the sliders, e.g. Yellow -> 60/120). At the bottom of the panel you can select toning options, which is the same theory of having a collection of presets to set sliders.

On a faster computer you can use the Eye icon on the toolbar to disable the preview mode and show the final image in the main window, which IMHO is worth doing.

Changing to "Expert" in the right panel you can add filters from the list at the top, select them in the middle of the panel and tweak their effects at the bottom (may need scrolling down). (I'd ignore that until you are comfortable using it - you may never want to play here, or possibly just tweak one thing the preset you're using set up.)

When saving the final image note that the first dialog, where it asks for the title, is going to write that over the image, it isn't the file name.

The main disadvantage is the lack of Undo operations.

Note that although they do (again, may be Pro-only) add a Photoshop plugin I'm not sure if BWP5 gets to be a proper plugin or just the much-less-useful File->Export one, which IMHO doesn’t really count. It changed to being a proper filter around that time, but if it's not there as a filter look in export.

The thing to get your brain around is it a huge pile of image processing tools, which are gathered together into presets in the left pane. All those options do is select a bunch of processing tools and choose options for them, so they are infinitely tweakable in the right pane.

BTW I bought a copy of BWP retail some time ago, but when they had a discount price - which they do quite often, so never pay the full price for Franzis' stuff, like DXO, Silkypix, others. Basically all the B+W images I've tried to do a really good job on came out of B+W Projects.


P.S. If this version supports Raw files (may be BWP Pro only) then here's my instructions to add raw support for more recent (although not very recent) cameras.

Usually the GAotD releases come with an old Raw file import library (e.g. from 2014) so straight-out-of-the-box won't support more recent cameras. However you can just copy a later version of FreeImage.dll over the one in the program's directory to help with that (although it's still not completely up-to-date).

Look in "C:\Program Files\Franzis\BLACK WHITE projects 5" and see it has an old version of FreeImage.dll, which is the library that decodes Raw images from your camera (you don't care if you only plan to use it with JPEGs). I replaced this with the newest version I have (once I've shut the program down so don't have a sharing error) which is:
FreeImage.dll 6,924,800 bytes 26-02-19
Alas usually you can download later versions from Franzis, but the downloads haven't been updated so you have to go to:
https://freeimage.sourceforge.io/download.html
and download the DLL (second link down the page)
Unzip the archive and choose the correct copy (x32/x64 - if you're running the 32-bit version of Windows your computer won't have a directory "C:\Program Files (x86)") of FreeImage.dll from FreeImage\Dist (which is 3.18.0.0, same as the one I used). I did install and test this exact file and it does work with supported cameras. You don't need the archive afterwards.

Note these are still not completely up-to-date, so recent cameras may not have Raw support and you have to use the JPG or make a 16-bit TIF file in your favourite Raw processing software.

If you have a Mac you'll need to get the OSX version of FreeImage from SourceForge and replace the existing one, wherever it might be.

P.P.S. If it doesn't look good on your high-DPI display (i.e. 4k/5k monitor) I'd recommend, on Windows 10, that you right mouse button the program, select Properties, then the Compatibility tab, click "Change high DPI settings", tick "Override high DPI scaling..." at the bottom of the next dialogue and select "System (Enhanced)", or if that doesn't work well then "System".

P.P.P.S. Worth looking here too: https://www.projects-software.com/giveaway

JohnL  –  2 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+35)

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I have BLACK & WHITE projects 5 from a giveaway in July of 2021. The goal or purpose of the app [& similar software, e.g., P/Shop Camera RAW & Lightroom] is to use the extra data in a color image & add it to a B&W version, rather than just discarding color data to transform a color photo to B&W. Converting a color photo that way you can improve the B&W version, e.g., expanding the visual dynamic range. 32 & 64-bit plugins are included.

I can't remember the BLACK & WHITE projects 5 installation, but generally Franzis giveaways come in their own wrapper, which stores the real setup file in the Users Temp folder -- I normally copy it from there to use in case of future installs. Franzis giveaways are older versions, frequently installing older versions of the Microsoft C/C+ runtimes. At the least your should check for security updates using Windows Update, but since you *probably* already have multiple copies of those runtimes installed with other software, I always just copy the program's folder, making sure to get any plugins, after installing it in a VM. The app will run from that copied folder, adding any necessary files & registry entries, and you can then register/activate it as needed.

mike  –  2 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+9)

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