Black and White: Convert or Commit?

[mitchgreene]

Hi all:

A much more accomplished photographer than I has given me two bits of advice that I have followed without much questioning. One I'll continue to accept as gospel, "A limited camera or camera setting will make you a better photographer assuming you can learn to make great pictures with those limits." Makes sense--try harder and you'll get better.

The second bit of advice was: "If it were film, you wouldn't be able to shoot color first then convert to BW in the lab. Commit to one or the other and shoot as the 'film' dictates."

When I create BW images, they were shot using my camera's bw setting. What do you out there in DPS land think? Should I continue to commit to bw or learn to convert in post production?

[Doug Pardee]

Most people will tell you to shoot Raw and convert in post-production. And from a technical image quality standpoint, it's pretty hard to argue with that.

The main reason for shooting in-camera B&W is exactly the one that you raise. It is a commitment. Most people will tell you that it's silly to make such a commitment when you can shoot in color and then choose later.

But personally, I think there's much to be said for a photographer learning to have sufficient confidence in his/her ability to not rely on post-processing as a way to "save" pictures. Shooting B&W requires a different way of seeing, and in my opinion it can be worthwhile to learn that way of seeing—as opposed to "stumbling" into B&W pictures when a color picture doesn't turn out right.

My biggest complaint is that in-camera B&W is an afterthought in most camera models, and the controls and the results border on lame. B&W photography is different from color photography, but most digital cameras are clueless about that.

[teaking]

To be fair to digital cameras it is very difficult to achieve a good black and white image from colour sensor data over 5EV stops of tonal value available in digital when trying to expose a scene correctly straight off the bat.

There a as many ways to create a black and white image from colour information as manchester united are in debt hehe

And on top of that the automatic conversions, each one will work better with a certain image than another. So a camera will basically desaturate your images colour and as long as you know that you can work with it. Look for light and shadows, contrast between colours, texture, strong shapes, if you see a spot with strong light and shadow surrounding it wait for something to happen there and just use your LCD and Ev compensation or underexpose in manual till you get the results you want and be prepared to walk away from a scene because it just may not work in black and white.

If you like the challenge of working in camera for black and white and you feel you have achieved your shot thats what matters if you feel you want to go the post processing route do that it isnt about feeling you have to do it one way or another just enjoy what you do

[OsmosisStudios]

Digital != Film

And that's especially true with black and white. I always - ALWAYS- shoot colour and RAW.

[mitchgreene]

Thanks. I'm able to shoot raw and choose between color (vivid, normal, softer, etc.) and BW. I usually choose BW. But I do ALWAYS shoot raw, too. Thanks for the comments--I apprecitate the time and thoughtfulness.