It takes at least 1 minute and 45 seconds (at least) to edit one photo from its raw form to the version I can use in the paper. The first step for preparing a photo for black and white printing: Get the photo as close to perfect in color as possible.

Black and white printing really can be frustrating. In a large sense it is simpler than color printing because there aren't multiple plates to be lined up perfectly. But on the other hand, you don't know how much ink your printing company is going to use in black and white. You might adjust the brightness and contrast and greys just right for the screen version, but make that version several shades darker all over... and you'll have a photo full of things people guess might be faces. Or your printer could be wary about ink, and you'll have overexposed to compensate for a lot of ink, and then your photos will be really white and lose a lot of definition.

I have a lot to learn in the art of black and whites. How do you preserve all the definition and contrast as well as possible?