The B&W conversions above were done with a Photoshop plug-in called Power Retouche Black/White Studio. If you are an old fart like me, you will love it because it takes you right back to the darkroom. There are two conversion screens -- film and print. The settings and sliders are very familiar to anyone who has ever used B&W film or has worked in a B&W darkroom. It has filters, film stocks, multigrade paper -- the works. Even I can understand it. And it makes much better conversions than I was getting in CS3.
You can download a demo for free if you are interested. It watermarks your conversions, but otherwise has full functionality.
It sells for USD $63, but I noticed they had an affiliate program. So I emailed them and reworked what would have been an affiliate commission into a discount. If you like it and want to buy the plug-in (or their full suite) enter the code 548ABA04 at checkout to get 25% off of either. The code is good until November 11th.
Source: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/10/assignment-open-shade-opera-singer.html
