B/W question

[AnimalGurl]

For an image that you think will make a great b/w shot, is it better to take the shot in full color and then adjust it...or...is it better to use a Monochrome setting when you take the shot in the first place?

[RichardTaylor]

Shoot RAW, and do the conversion when PPing. It will give you (not the camera) maximum control over the end image.

[Cream Pictures]

^^ That. Since you can apply an orange, red or other color filter in PP and bring up the contrast.

[timiroberts]

I agree. Shoot RAW then convert on the computer. If you're capturing RAW, you can still shoot with the monochrome setting on your camera to see what it will look like right away. But, when you upload the picture to your camera, it will show up as a color image. RAW retains all color detail, but will show you B/W on your camera's LCD screen.
Plus, with PS, Nik effects or any other editing software, there are lots of ways to produce a better B/W picture than what you would get with your standard camera settings.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

Shoot RAW, and do the conversion when PPing. It will give you (not the camera) maximum control over the end image.

Remember, if you shoot colour you have 3 data points for each pixel (R,G,B) but if you shoot black and white you only have one. More data is always better.

[inkista]

Just to further illuminate what everybody else is saying, try this article:

Converting a Digital Color Photo into Black and White

and play around with the mouseover examples.

[AnimalGurl]

Thanks everyone very much for the advice (and the great article!). I'm wondering why better cameras even offer the monochrome setting at all now.

[RichardTaylor]

Quote.
I'm wondering why better cameras even offer the monochrome setting at all now.
End quote.

Some people may be intimated by processing RAW files.

[AnimalGurl]

That's true. I was for a long time...still am sometimes because there is so much in PP to learn!

[inkista]

Originally Posted by AnimalGurl

...I'm wondering why better cameras even offer the monochrome setting at all now.

I find it exceedingly useful, actually. I'm not good at visualizing in B&W [especially with color filters], and having the feedback of a B&W preview image to see if I got it right or not (in time for me to dink with settings and do a retake) is a godsend. If I plan to make a B&W image, I usually shoot in RAW with the B&W setting on. As others have said above, that way, the raw sensor (color) data is left alone, and it's only the JPEG preview that's desaturated. Best of both worlds. Especially since in my Canons I can set the B&W styles to use color filters as well, so I can guesstimate what I'll be doing in post later.

The color filter for B&W thing, btw, is merely imitating what used to be done with film. If you google "Ansel Adams Monolith Half-Dome", you'll run into a bazillion accounts of how he'd been shooting Half-Dome with a yellow filter, until it occurred to him that the image he wanted to make would require a deep red one, to darken the sky.