That’s why I shoot everything in RAW format.

I have used Olympus cameras since the late 70s and with the digital age I still use Olympus.
The reason I say this is because of the awesome software that comes with Olympus dSLR cameras.
I know Canon, Nikon etc must have similar software that enables the user to work with RAW files.
Anyway for my example, I’m going to show what I do with ORF files which is an Olympus standard RAW file and transform it into a B&W image, it’s just so easy I can fit it on this reply..

First I take the image in RAW color format.
Then I open Olympus master 2 which is their “free software” for editing and manipulating ORF files.

I then chose picture mode and select monochrome.
Now I have a basic B&W image.
Next I have the choice of B&W filters, tone corrections, gradation, brightness and contrast settings, picture tone and exposure settings, the list goes on and on.

It’s like having a darkroom at your fingertips and more.
The feel of using this powerful software is like you’re still there composing your B&W shot with a huge bag full of filters, and being able to change the settings on the camera, seeing the results instantly.

That’s it, simple ehe?

What this article shows is how difficult it is to transform a color Jpeg image into B&W, it’s not that easy and this article is excellent at explaining how to do it.

But if you had the choice, which would you rather do?

You can also take the B&W image to even more levels and make it take on the dynamics of all the little things that make different B&W film desirable for setting tones and mood, it’s called HDR editing and because the image you just edited into B&W is still a RAW file, you can save several exposures and use HDR editing to get the image to take on tones from Pan-X, Tri-X etc, types of film, and it’s not that time consuming to do.

“The truth is they do not need to equal 100%, they can actually equal whatever you want them to be, since the main goal is to make sure the photo looks the way you want it to look. ”

—This is fantastic to have read. I say this all the time, i.e. if the image looks the way you want it to, not much else matters.

Ken

just found that piece of software on colorator.com that does just this. you can click on a color and everything except that color turns B/W. pretty cool.