Doing only B&W photography in order to learn??

[Jim Bryant]

The ONLY way to truly way to learn B & W is to shoot film. If you don't, you never learn the true gray scale tonal qualities that film offers over digital B & W.

[sk66]

I agree with Doug that the "rules" change when working in black and white as opposed to color...it's not always a direct translation.

I also agree with Jim that B&W film is a different animal than digital conversion/capture.....which brings up a question...Is digital B&W going to become the "accepted norm" and preferred to film B&W eventually? I kind of doubt it because when I do conversions I am trying for the film like quality....

[milosh]

Originally Posted by PowerPix

Hmmmm, this sounds extremely close to a post I made in a thread the past couple of days..........you stalking me???

Nooup, haven't seen your thread, guess that same things came to our minds.

Thanks for the comments everyone! I would like to shoot b&w film a bit, I'm just not sure if I can find it here, I'll try.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by sk66

when I do conversions I am trying for the film like quality....

me too... and i've found it darn near impossible...
only one image i have i can say looks convincingly like film.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by candleman

me too... and i've found it darn near impossible...
only one image i have i can say looks convincingly like film.

One thing that can help is to blend a few exposures (not hdr)...helps duplicate the latitude of film...especially if you are not working in high resolution RAW.

[cheap]

Originally Posted by candleman

prettymuch only for the reason of forcing me to think more carefuly about the image and making it "right"... before pushing the button.
IMHO

Not necessary.

SLR shooters can have as much fun as DSLR owners. Don't have to slow down and think much when using motor drive and 250 exposures bulk film back.

[Autumnleavezz]

This is interesting. The other day I was discussing with a friend on the topic of taking B/W photo since our camera (we both bought the same camera Panasonic Lumix FZ18) has this feature. She was telling why bother when one can use photoshop to convert it to B/W anyway and risk the change of missing out a colour photo

But somehow I wasn't quite convince as I felt that doing a B/W would be different from converting from colour to B/W, therefore I find this discussion good and will definitely try out B/W and hopefully I would get some really nice photos.

Personally I missed my film camera which was a olympus is3000 and somehow I cannot find the same quality on the photos I have taken with my current Lumix FZ18. It lack the depth and emotion of a good old film camera. Anyone agree to that or that there a good camera which could do so.

Thought of changing my camera and am looking at olympus due to pass experiences.

[Elmo]

Originally Posted by milosh

Sorry but your sarcasm doesn't make any sense..

From a photographer who learned on B/W because that was all their was, the remark makes great sense. If you use film every time you press the shutter it cost money. The film cost money. the processimg cost money. the print cost money. All that before you see what you did. Shot gun shooting and hoping for the best was not an option. In those days one was careful about the subject matter. The composition was studied carefully. The exposure was carefully determined. All that before the shutter was snapped. Then if you did not have a darkroom you had to wit about a week to see the results. If you had a dark room you still had a couple of hours wait. Then in the darkroom you were basically limited to Dodge/burn and sight contrast adjustments.

Am I complaining no, I still do it from time to time and love it.

Might I suggest a small change to your B/W learning experience. Shoot digital and in color. Then in post do a conversion to B/W. This will better give you an idea of how "colors" appear in B/W.by comparing the two images. Next only do one capture this will force you to study the elements in the picture to get the best image. Next use only single focal length lens, this will teach perspective and promote you moving around to inlude or avoid elements in the capture.

As a side note when shooting digital I often make several captures (3 or 4) but 99% of the time my first capture is the one used to produce the final results.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

The ONLY way to truly way to learn B & W is to shoot film. If you don't, you never learn the true gray scale tonal qualities that film offers over digital B & W.

+1

Sidenote: Jim have you ever shot BW for your commercial sports stuff? You know, back in the day?

[milosh]

Originally Posted by Elmo

From a photographer who learned on B/W because that was all their was, the remark makes great sense. If you use film...

I agree with you, but I did find that comment a bit too sarcastic.

Originally Posted by Elmo

Might I suggest a small change to your B/W learning experience. Shoot digital and in color. Then in post do a conversion to B/W. This will better give you an idea of how "colors" appear in B/W.by comparing the two images. Next only do one capture this will force you to study the elements in the picture to get the best image. Next use only single focal length lens, this will teach perspective and promote you moving around to inlude or avoid elements in the capture.

As a side note when shooting digital I often make several captures (3 or 4) but 99% of the time my first capture is the one used to produce the final results.

Thanks for your ideas, I didn't yet try to convert some of my colour images to B/W. I did however get a 35mm f1.8 lens which makes me try harder and I use it often.

Btw, I also bought and old Yahica FX-3 with Yahica DSB 50mm f1.9 lens and 5 rolls of Fuji Neopan 400CN B/W film. I don't think I'll go that far to develop images myself. I went through enough trouble buying the film, I can't imagine what would it be like to buy the chemicals. I had to order the film from England, just got it a few days ago and can't wait to start shooting it.