Perfect Black and White Photographs and adding Tints in Gimp
Gimp Video Tutorial
Black and White Photography
There are several ways of desaturating images in Gimp and a very wide variety of effects can be achieved.
This video focuses on the decomposition method that Gimp uses to permit editing in Lab and other non RGB modes.
There is a lot more to this method than simply creating black and white images, but it is enough here to focus on the spectacular results that can be achieved by simply using this method for creating black and white photos.