There are a few interesting ones, a friend of mine has this...

http://www.niksoftware.com/silverefexpro/en/entry.php

Only had a brief play, but it looks decent, not cheap though..

I like exposure 2 myself

http://www.alienskin.com/exposure/

Though I would say, whilst some profiles appear near to the original, not all are, and a lack of histogram is a bit of a downer. But they offer a quick way to get some interesting b&w effects.

I was suprised there was no traffic in the B+W section, I find I'm using it a lot more recently (entering camera club competitions is one way to get you working)

I mostly use either BW Styler plug in or the conversion tool in CS3, however recently I've found a method that gives me results I like, using the RedynamixHDR plug in and the black and white option - also pretty low cost. It gives a contrasty look which prints brilliantly on my HP B9180.

Here are a few recent examples









Cheers

Murph

Kind of a nostalgia is hitting me whenever I see a B&W picture.

This image from my recent trip to Tanzania was processed with Lightroom 2.1 RC

Click for larger:

That is a very very very beautiful and stunning photo. Wow and wow again.

Thank you, Dr.

Congratulations Winston,

Just the kind of opportunity a photographer could ask for: being there at the time when nature decides to display its magnificent show...

Thanks for sharing
Yildiz

I have to second that. I think the tree makes the difference and I am happy it's not in the center!!

Thanks for the comments...it made Photo of the Week over at Dyxum.com

Great to see some more B&W pictures. I love Murph's #1 and 2 especially.

Thanks to Murph, Sonolta and Winston for those shots, and to Barry for starting the thread.

I love B&W. Here are just a few of mine that were all taken in color (except the last) and then converted:

Ghost Elephants in Botswana:


Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam:


Sunday morning after a hard Saturday night in Shinjuku, Tokyo:


Hilltribe school girl and little brother in northern Thailand:


Self-portrait:


Children in Otavalo, Ecuador:


Self-portrait from 1974:


I often use the channel mixer when converting to B&W. Also, I sometimes use the free Photo-Plugins B&W converter.

Excellent pictures Henry. I think I like most #1-2-4 & 6. Sorry I couldn't understand your self portraits.
But if I have to pick just one, that would be either 1 or 2.

Thanks, Doc! I have quite a few self-portraits over the years, I guess because I always found myself a willing subject. Last fall I was in Tokyo going to school and one of my teachers, Takahashi-sensei, really liked my Hanoi Hoan Kiem Lake photo so I made an enlargement and brought it to class to give him one day. He worked in Hanoi as a Japanese language teacher about 15 years ago and he said he walked along the lake many times while he was there.

I particularly like the two pictures of the kids.

Thanks, Winston. Children are always good subjects because they are usually not self-conscious and often actually want you to take their photo.