shooting b&w vs. conversion

[Barbara V]

I'm wondering how people feel about shooting in black and white via camera settings, as opposed to doing a color conversion? Is there any importance difference in the results? I kind of like to shoot in black and white....... I feel like I am using black and white film, and my eye "sees" more accordingly, if you know what I mean. Also, I use a yellow internal filter with my b&w. This is what I was used to doing when using my old FM2.

[IABoomer]

If your camera shoots RAW, you might be able to get the best of both worlds. Set the camera to shoot B&W with whatever in-camera conversion options you want. The camera will render the JPEG previews according to those rules and show you B&W on the review screen. However, when you get back and offload the images, if the conversion isn't quite right, or you want to experiment with it, you'll have the full color detail from the RAW file to re-convert as you see fit.

[Photologyst]

It is always better to shoot in RAW color. More dynamic range info for conversion. Do a test. Shoot the same scene in both B & W and color. Then PS process and see how you feel.

Converting a Digital Color Photo into Black and White


How to Convert Color Digital Images into Black and White Ones

[Barbara V]

Thanks AIBoomer and Photologyst for the RAW hints. That's something I've been hesitate to experiment with, but will have to check it out. Thanks for the links.

[Biomech]

"Framing" in black and white definately lets you see more about the tonal range, the blacked out shadows and the missed blown out reflections. But shooting in black and white is like blowing your leg off to run in the paralympics - it's fine until you want to use your other leg.

I haven't tried IABoomers idea which sounds like it would work.

Top tip: If you squint you reduce the amount of light getting to your eyeball(obviously) and get an impression of contrast/tonal range the camera see's.

Also, there are 2 ways to convert to black and white, you ever make it black and white by chaning it to grey scale, or convert to black and white which preserves the RGB values and lets you manipulate each colour channel.

[Woody]

The thing I don't get is the unwillingness to experiment. I costs nothing but a couple of actuations and a bit of time to try to do something differently.

If I do a shoot of say 100 pics, I delete probably 80% or more anyway.

Just let go and try something out of your comfort zone.

Cheers,

John W

[ravncat]

Iaboomer's idea will work fine, I posted a tutorial on that awhile back, and do that alot - it's nice to be able to see a black and white preview.

Shooting in Raw and converting to black and white in post, gives you the most control over the tones - I'm sure Ansel Adams would be doing it that way if he were still around.

[kirbinster]

Originally Posted by Barbara V

Thanks AIBoomer and Photologyst for the RAW hints. That's something I've been hesitate to experiment with, but will have to check it out. Thanks for the links.

Why not shoot in RAW + JPEG mode then - that way you have the jpeg, and only have to deal with the raw if you need to.

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

Why not shoot in RAW + JPEG mode then - that way you have the jpeg, and only have to deal with the raw if you need to.

Because it wastes card space (though that's pretty cheap now), there is a full size JPG in every RAW file, so in reality RAW+JPG is RAW+JPG+JPG.

[kirbinster]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

Because it wastes card space (though that's pretty cheap now), there is a full size JPG in every RAW file, so in reality RAW+JPG is RAW+JPG+JPG.

Well it might use some cheap card space, but it makes it much easier for the user. While there is a fairly large jpeg file in the raw, it is not the full size that the camera can produce. You also need software to extract that embedded jpeg out of the raw - you can get free software for that, but it is just another step.