Artisan Pro X

B&W Editing Software By Artists, For Artists

think different to create different

For the ones who see things differently, we created B&W software that does things entirely differently

Knowledge Hub

900+ Functions

608 Depth & Special FX functions, 154 Micro Zone Presets, Toning Buttons, Styles, B&W conversions, pro tools, selective and advanced local adjustments, my proprietary restore for smooth blending and much more

local & global adjustments

Global adjustments and local adjustments using micro zones.

Luminosity masks

65 Luminosity Masks, Full, Quarter and Half and 31 micro zone masks.

AI Enhanced

Improved sky masks using Adobe's built in AI and image upscaling using preserve details 2.0

Images created using artisan pro x

“Is It Hard?' Not If You Have The Right Attitudes. It's Having The Right Attitudes That's Hard.”

-Robert M Pirsig, Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

pure B&W Processing software

B&W Artisan Pro X 2022 (UXP version) is the latest evolution of the B&W Artisan Pro software panels and is a panel for Photoshop for pure and unrestricted B&W editing. It is software designed by a B&W fine-art photographer, educator, and highly praised expert on B&W photography, for other B&W fine-art photographers who need powerful but easy-to-use tools to support and express their artistic vision without any technical restrictions. The panel is designed for both beginners and experienced professionals in B&W photography.

About the Designer of this plugin

The designer of this Photoshop plugin, Joel Tjintjelaar, pioneered B&W Fine art architectural photography more than 12 years ago. Together with a few other leading photographers, Joel popularized this style of photography. Ever since thousands of photographers worldwide have adopted this visual style of architectural photography and technical methods for artistic expression

System Requirements

  • PS CC 2021 or higher is recommended for B&W Artisan Pro X 2022 and 2022 UXP
  • Mac(Apple Silicon and Intel) and Windows compatible, no Linux support
  • Make sure that your computer can run the latest Photoshop version. Check Adobe’s website for specifics.
  • The plugin runs language independently.

USD $49.99

USD $49.99

USD $37.49

25% OFF Applied At Checkout on Adobe store

Buy On Adobe Exchange

“You Want To Know How To Paint A Perfect Painting? It's Easy. Make Yourself Perfect And Then Just Paint Naturally."

-Robert M Pirsig, Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Our philosophy

Putting the artistic process and quality in the first place.

We are passionate photographers and artists in the first place, we’re not software engineers. But we are comfortable with technology. Our main objective will always be to enable artistic expression, not software development. It’s just a tool to us. And that’s what separates our software from others: we know best what other photographers need and what it takes to create images that inspired other photographers for more than a decade already.

We do not believe in replacing your individuality with 1-click ‘magic’ filters just to save you time. That is a production process, not an artistic process. The software encourages you to learn the artistic process. And it is that process that takes your time. Initially to learn the process, and later to fully embrace the process as a way to immerse yourself in your art.

Therefore, the software has two main objectives:

First to emulate through software the technical proficiency and skills of a B&W craftsman with a very high degree of subtlety, consistency and accuracy. 

Second, to adopt the mindset of the creator of the panel by following the suggested artist’s workflow that is built upon principles in art and aesthetics. It takes time, but perfection and quality take time. There is no shortcut to quality.

Both objectives are enabled through recommended workflows and elaborate presets in the panel.

FAQ

Most frequent questions and answers. For more FAQs please go to the Knowledge Hub.
The new UXP plugins that can only be purchased from the Adobe store, are installed without a download file. Upon successful purchase from the Adobe store, you should see the message on Adobe’s Creative Cloud Desktop app where you can find the plugin, just follow the instructions. The plugin will be available in the same place as where you would update your PS CC version to a newer version.
In the Creative Cloud Desktop app go to: Stock & Marketplace > Plugins > Manage Plugins. There you will find the plugin. Now just click on Install and then open it in PS after activating it in PS > Plugins. *NOTE that you have to use the same email address as the email address you use to log in to Adobe Photoshop when making the purchase. Else you won’t find the new plugin in your Adobe account under Plugins.

The older (CEP) versions are designed for Adobe’s CEP Legacy platform and will still work as long as Adobe supports the CEP platform. In 2020 Adobe announced that the older CEP Legacy platform will be discontinued within a few years and fully replaced by the new UXP platform But Adobe didn’t give an exact date. As for now, the older CEP Legacy plugins will still work but if you have the latest Apple computer with the new M1 or M2 processor then you have to start up Adobe PS in Rosetta emulation mode to use the older CEP plugins. It is described here – it is a simple one-off setting and the older plugins will then work fine. But it is not known when Adobe will discontinue the support for the CEP platform. Apart from that, the new UXP plugins have more features and will usually work faster.

Because this is not a panel for creating luminosity masks – it does that too but can do far more. The luminosity masks feature is only one small bonus feature part of this full post-processing workflow panel. It is a full workflow panel designed to process B&W images optimally and easily, like for example Silver Efex Pro or Topaz B&W.

I use the panel myself extensively, even though I am able to do it all manually. Why? Because I can do it faster and much more accurately with much more subtlety and consistency than when I do it manually. Furthermore, creating depth in very small objects like thin cables is nearly impossible to do without the panel (Special FX feature) or cost a lot of painstaking effort that can not match the subtlety of the method with the Special FX feature.

No, this panel offers something for everyone. There’s a way of working with the panel that’s less intimidating and time-consuming. It will result in less sophisticated images, but still very good artistic results, considering the time, effort, and experience you give it. To paraphrase Robert M. Pirsig: it’s not hard, it’s having the right attitude that’s hard. 

Yes, absolutely. The panel is designed to operate independently from color information as it only takes into consideration the actual RAW luminance value of a pixel, not the color information of a pixel.

You can process color images very accurately, effectively, and beautifully just by using the luminance value information to come to your colorful end result. Later on, you can alter the saturation/hue yourself with either the built-in color-grading or split-toning presets, or do it yourself manually with Photoshop’s color features.

No, there’s a difference between a traditional workflow, the workflow using adjustment layers that Adobe endorses and everyone seems to use, often referred to as a ‘non-destructive workflow’ and a non-traditional workflow such as the workflow supported in the panel and used by me. A non-traditional workflow is not equal to a destructive workflow. The many subtle incremental changes that are typical for my workflow, using dozens of channels and hundreds of layers, are not workable using the traditional workflow.

Yes, absolutely. It will work on both Mac OS and Windows systems.