Advice during Photo Seminar: I have recently returned from a Caribbean cruise on which I had an opportunity to attend a couple of photo seminars relating to the use of light. The first...

geezer7 Loc: Michigan

I have recently returned from a Caribbean cruise on which I had an opportunity to attend a couple of photo seminars relating to the use of light. The first addressed portraits and the presenter emphasized portraits in black and white. Contrary to what I believe I have heard, the presenter recommended setting the camera to the monochrome mode instead of converting in post. Does this sound right?

The second seminar addressed the use of the manual mode in the camera. I had several SLRs from 1970 to 2010 which were manual so I am comfortable with the manual mode although I tend to use aperture priority and adjust ISO to suit my needs. The presenter emphasized the flexibility available with manual which I can understand. However he also stated that the use of manual results in richer colors. This I do not understand.

I would appreciate any comments regarding these two issues.

Thanks in advance.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

"Manual results in richer colors" - yep, a head scratcher. Was he talking about sunset shots and setting the exposure darker than the camera's meter suggests?

B&W - if you shoot in raw, you start with a color file and convert in pp. A ton of pro's do this way. A ton is enough to convince me

As is the use of awesome editors like Nik Silver Efex. A benefit of setting the jpg style to monochrome - or if camera has a b&w "view," is as a composition aid in seeing the tones, light and shadows. There is much more to b&w photography than just removing color.

geezer7 Loc: Michigan

Linda From Maine wrote:

"Manual results in richer colors" - yep,... (show quote)

I agree. There appears to be much more control in converting to b&w in post. That's why I asked!

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

geezer7 wrote:

I have recently returned from a Caribbean cruise o... (show quote)

The presenter's basic premise was that you should shoot in JPEG, since richer colors means using the built in Vivid (Nikon term, do not know what they call it in Canon land) color setting. With RAW, this setting is meaningless. The same with shooting monochrome in camera, which if you are shooting RAW, is meaningless since the RAW file is by default, color. Shooting monochrome in camera will let you know what results you can have in post processing, but with RAW, you still have to finish the conversion in post.

crazydaddio Loc: Toronto Ontario Canada

geezer7 wrote:

I have recently returned from a Caribbean cruise o... (show quote)

Nope and nope.
RAW is unprocessed - what the sensor records. Anyothwr settings incamera are just post processing by the camera which you can do yourself afterwards.

Manual simply means you control the settings. If he means richer colors due to getting the exposure dialed in better vs the camera taking its best guess...ie poor exposure would require you to pull shadows in post injecting noise etc...i guess it may have an effect but its a result of bad settings not whether manual or not.

I went to a cruise seminar on manual also. (Norwegian).

In the end, a little time in UHH and Googling/youtube and you can teach the seminars on the cruise ships...

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

As for monochrome mode, that doesn't make sense. Adjusting the camera to capture monochrome usually requires shooting in jpg format. I'd prefer to shoot RAW and convert to black and white in processing. I have a few cameras that I usually use that do shoot in monochrome mode. That's due to using Ilford products for sensors.
--Bob

geezer7 wrote:

I have recently returned from a Caribbean cruise o... (show quote)

htbrown Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

geezer7 wrote:

... However he also stated that the use of manual results in richer colors...

It's hard to extract much meaning from over-broad statements, but here's my guess. Even a little bit of overexposure in the highlights will desaturate colors. An exposure based on an averaged or centered meter reading may have areas of overexposed highlights that a well-chosen manual exposure may not. In such a case, the manual exposure will have better (richer) colors. Of course it's easier to get a bad exposure in manual mode, especially in my hands.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Can you still get a refund?

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

CHG_CANON wrote:

Can you still get a refund?

geezer7 Loc: Michigan

CHG_CANON wrote:

Can you still get a refund?

Funny!! Actually the cruise was great and the portrait seminar was very interesting. Just thought that a couple of comments were questionable. No complaints.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

rmalarz wrote:

... Adjusting the camera to capture monochrome usually requires shooting in jpg format....
--Bob

My modest Canon T3i dslr could shoot raw + b&w jpg simultaneously. During shooting, you could only see the b&w when using live view or on playback. My Panasonic Lumix G7 (mirrorless) has a feature that shows the scene in b&w in the electronic viewfinder and the LCD - as a composition aid, while shooting in raw. Handy!

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

geezer7 wrote:

Contrary to what I believe I have heard, the presenter recommended setting the camera to the monochrome mode instead of converting in post. Does this sound right?

If you don't own a set of b&w contrast filters, I wouldn't really recommend it, as control over the tones will be limited.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

htbrown wrote:

It's hard to extract much meaning from over-broad statements, but here's my guess. Even a little bit of overexposure in the highlights will desaturate colors. An exposure based on an averaged or centered meter reading may have areas of overexposed highlights that a well-chosen manual exposure may not. In such a case, the manual exposure will have better (richer) colors. Of course it's easier to get a bad exposure in manual mode, especially in my hands.

But is that ANY different than controlling those highlights using +/- EC?
To know if you are controlling highlights or shadows with a well chosen exposure you would HAVE to either chimp or use a meter. just saying
SS

tcthome Loc: NJ

Linda From Maine wrote:

My modest Canon T3i dslr could shoot raw + b&w jpg simultaneously. During shooting, you could only see the b&w when using live view or on playback. My Panasonic Lumix G7 (mirrorless) has a feature that shows the scene in b&w in the electronic viewfinder and the LCD - as a composition aid, while shooting in raw. Handy!

Very handy!

millman221

+1 on above comments.

I will add that i will typically capture both raw + jpeg when shooting. and i have noticed when importing into LR, if i have camera in monochrome mode, the raw file initially looks monochrome, but then once LR finished import/preview generation, the raw is color.

not trying to spark any LR flames, to each their own for capture catalog edit choices. :)