Black & White Before or Post

[gone2carolina]

I was a taking some photos for a black and white prompt and used the black & white setting on my camera (Canon Rebel T3). I shoot in RAW. When I loaded them to the computer to edit and whatnot they loaded in color. I'm sure this is a basic thing, but I am the newest of newbies lol Also do you like to shoot in black and white or do you like to convert it when you are in post?

[OsmosisStudios]

When you shoot in RAW, the camera records and gives you ALL the information: shooting in the camera's black and white mode just gives you a preview.

If youre doing black and white, you should take the time to do it properly in post instead of letting the camera do it for you.

[Biomech]

You should NEVER shoot anything black and white in camera, or any other effect, same goes for video. By all means use it to see what it would be like, but don't shoot in an effects mode!

[PShah]

Originally Posted by Biomech

You should NEVER shoot anything black and white in camera, or any other effect, same goes for video. By all means use it to see what it would be like, but don't shoot in an effects mode!

May I request you to explain the reason of why not shooting anything in B&W in camera. It helps me in bettter undersatnding.

Thanking you in advance.

Regards
PShah

[Biomech]

Of course. Simply, if you shoot black and white in camera, you end up with a black and white image*. If you shoot in colour, you can have whatever image you want.

Imagine having your favourite wedding photo in black and white. No matter how much you want that photo in colour, it just isn't going to happen*


* RAW aside
* Something something World at War in colour.

[karen_s]

Originally Posted by PShah

May I request you to explain the reason of why not shooting anything in B&W in camera. It helps me in bettter undersatnding.

Thanking you in advance.

Regards
PShah

Along with what Biomech said, shooting in color gives you a lot more information to work with in post. While a shot in black and white will give you shades of black to manipulate, a shot in color will give you a wide rainbow of colors with which to work. Powerful programs like Photoshop and Lightroom (among others) allow you to retain color information so you can manipulate them separately. Take a shot of green grass with a blue sky for example. A black and white out of the camera JPEG may look a bit flat as the green of the grass may register a similar shade of the blue of the sky. In post, you will only have shades of grey to work with and may have a hard time ever separating the two if they are close to the same shade. On the other hand, if you take the same shot in color, you can manipulate the blues and greens separately, say darken one and lighten the other thus allowing you to do quite a bit more with contrast.

You might try shooting in RAW + JPEG. Your camera will then create two files, the RAW in color and the in camera processed black and white JPEG. I never do this though as I don't really care what the camera does. It's just a black a box.

[Doug Sundseth]

If you're shooting in RAW, it can be worthwhile to shoot "B&W" in camera. It won't have any effect on the RAW file, but you'll get a B&W preview that can help you notice and correct problems on site.

[gone2carolina]

Thank you guys so much! I