How to specify color space for B&W images in export box.

Report · Oct 31, 2023

A year ago I had Bay Photo Lab print some B&White images for me; I had used the B&W selection in teh Develop module. Since I expected there o be no colo to adjsut, I told Bay Photo not to do color correction.

Lo and behold, all three prints came back with color in paqrts of the image. I called their customer service, and they reprinted them as B&W.

I am about to do the same thing again. Some photographers I know suggested I check what the color space I had selected in teh Export box. I'm sure it weas sRGB.

I looked just now to see if there is a color space for B&W. There IS NONE by default in LRClassic. Can/should I add one from some extrnal source?

Report · Nov 02, 2023

LrC doesn't know about grayscale, and can only export in RGB. (B&W in LrC is desaturated RGB)

You could convert to grayscale in Photoshop, but very few, if any other applications support it. And you would have to know exactly which grayscale profile to convert to, and the photo lab would have to support it. (which is highly unlikely)

I suggest that you discuss this with the photo lab, or try a different one. As far as I know, most photo labs want images in sRGB.

Report · Nov 02, 2023

I use Bay Photo for my Metal Prints, but all color, not B&W (hmm, I should try some). And it is pretty much RGB. In fact they pretty much tell you do not use other color spaces. Naturally they post documentation on File Prep, as linked below:

https://support.bayphoto.com/s/article/file-size--file-preparation-guidelines

P.S. have you considered DxO Nik Silver Efex for B&W?