Converting to B&W

[Hill Country Hack]

Hello all in DPS land. I utilize both color and monochrome settings on my DSLR depending on what I am trying to do.

I notice multiple threads about a color image converted to monochrome. I googled advantages of converting color digital images to B&W and all I got was "how to" convert images. Is there an advantage of obtaining the image in color and then converting to B&W?

What are some of the pros and cons?

Thanks in advance.

[IABoomer]

If you start with the color data and process on the computer, you can alter the luminance of the different colors and adjust the image more. If you shoot B&W in the camera, the camera is making those decisions for you.

If your camera will shoot RAW, you can use the JPEG preview settings to get an idea of what the B&W could look like, but you'll have the full color data to convert in the RAW file when you get the images from the camera.

[Hill Country Hack]

AAhhhhhhhh. I understand. Thanks!

[Hill Country Hack]

BTW...I always shoot RAW.

[ErikUngerPhotography]

As long as you are shooting RAW, then the preview in camera will be B&W, but the file will have all the color information.

Like Boomer said, this allows you to adjust the luminance of each color individually making it more your decision on how it looks rather than the camera. Also, if you use the B&W adjustment layer in photoshop, it is completely non destructive. You can go back to color, make adjustments, and even use layer masking. There haven't been very many times where I need to make 2 separate B&W layers, but on the occasion I do, it allows me to customize it even further.

[Doug Sundseth]

Since you're starting with RAW, you're probably going through ACR/LR or something similar. If that's the case, you can do a non-destructive B&W conversion right there. And in LR, you can make as many virtual copies to try different things as you want without chewing up hard-disk space much at all.

[3bayjunkie]

The obvious advantage is you can chose to have it be colour or B&W where as with B&W film you are restricted to just the B&W. Other than that I can't think of any advantages.

[inkista]

If you want a visual demonstration of what being able to control the luminance of the individual colors is like, take a look at this article on cambridgeincolour. Scroll down to the parrot, and do the mouseover demonstrations of what adjusting by individual color will result in. Ditto the tower image below it. This is very similar to what oldtimers used to do with color filters for black and white photography.

Ansel Adams very famously used a red filter to darken the skies over half-dome for his shot of it. Today, with digital post-processing, we can basically do the equivalent thing, using any color filter we please.

In Lightroom, the easiest way I've found to do this is not to mess with the color sliders (ala the Channel Mixer), but in the HSL / Color / B&W panel in the Develop module, select the little concentric rings tool in the upper left corner. Then, in the image, click on whatever it is you want to adjust the tones of, and then drag up (to lighten) or down (to darken). Whatever color you landed on will be adjusted, and you'll see the color sliders move along with you. But you have the advantage of precisely targeting the color you want to adjust. I assume ACR does the same thing.

[Ruchika_2011]

Shooting in color enables you to de-saturate specific colors to present a mono-tone image or use color filters to change the contrast and shades of objects of different yet equally strong colors. And you can also process the image creatively to create a partial black and white photograph. Conversion during post-processing allows you to mix color channels, shift hues, de-saturate and applying color filters for more effective conversion. You can get an in-depth explanation of the fact here along with some useful tips for black and white photography.