Black and White post procesing

[Mefistofeles]

Hellou there.

I have a question regarding Black and white photography.

Actually, a few questions.

Is it better to take the photos directly on b&W with the camera or in post-processing.

For B&W, Film vs digital?? whose the best??

i'm not a pro, and I don't know how to use photoshop yet. I use it just for correcting lens distortion since one of my favorite subjects is architecture.

What is the best way to turn a picture from color to B&W ?

Here I have some examples (all the editing was done using picknic!)

Here is in B&W, used picnik and photoshop for the distortion



And here is the original

[Mefistofeles]

oh yeah.. I forgot, if you have tutorials or something like that, that would be great. THANK YOU ALL!!!!

[OsmosisStudios]

It's your lucky day!

[Mefistofeles]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

It's your lucky day!

You know what???..


I LOVE YOU

[OsmosisStudios]

Honestly, your example is actually quite good in and of itself. Could use maybe a bit more on the whites. Still very nice.

You're welcome.

[zappo]

Btw. if you are really into B/W and willing to invest some money consider Silver Efex Pro. Most people agree that this might not be better to generate a B/W but much more comfortable. Scott Kelby writes in on of his book something like "Well do it this and this way in PS, but you know in real life I just use Silver Efex Pro"

[Mefistofeles]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Honestly, your example is actually quite good in and of itself. Could use maybe a bit more on the whites. Still very nice.

You're welcome.

Please explain, what do you mean with "a bit more on the whites"?

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Mefistofeles

Please explain, what do you mean with "a bit more on the whites"?

You've got great shadows and great tonality in the darker side of the histogram, it just needs a bit more on the lighter side of the histogram. Keep the shadows, but increase the highlights.

[stevenrecords]

I also will use a black to white gradient map to get B & W Photos. You can use a combination of the black and white adjustment they provide and the gradient map. I also use multiple layers at different opacity settings and blending options.