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Black and White vs Desaturation
Feb 18, 2013 14:01:06 #
martyleo wrote:
I would like to hear from some seasoned photographers their opinions about shooting black and white versus desaturating a color photo. Is there a significant difference in quality, contrast and/or anything else that makes a good b & w photo?
Hello martyleo
As Captain said Nik Silver does do B/W justice for digital photos. But in my opinion nothing is better than the real thing (B/W-Film) just my humble opinion. Which I still dabble in from time to time.
Feb 18, 2013 14:52:46 #
I'm in college working on my degree in Photography. Digital One, Digital Two, B&W, Portrait and Photoshop instructors ALL told me to always shoot in Color then convert to black and white. It gives you more control on the saturation because the colors are still (Underneath) and you can change brightness, saturation etc.
Feb 18, 2013 15:17:55 #
jmsibert wrote:
The only time I use desaturation is when I'm converting only the background to black and white but maintaining the subject in color.
Why don't you have a separate B/W bottom layer, properly converted, with the original colour layer, suitably erased, above it?
GHK
Feb 18, 2013 16:09:36 #
Feb 18, 2013 16:49:37 #
morris cowley
Loc: australia
PalePictures wrote:
Black and white conversions comes in three flavors... (show quote)
Now here we have a professional who knows what he is talking about. Go no further.
Feb 18, 2013 18:12:31 #
I was taught to shoot in color and then to convert to B&W. Not only was I told not to desaturate but to push up the saturation before converting. Anyone heard of this technique?? I get good results but nothing like PalePictures. On the other hand this shot took me 20 minutes to complete........
Hanna 040
Feb 18, 2013 22:51:51 #
I have always thought that the proper B&W starts in composition, before you trip the shutter. As much as I favor black and white photography, not every shot can, or should be converted. My preference is to concentrate on light and shadow, then use Silver Efex Pro 2 by NIK Software for my conversion and tone adjustments. Here is an example of my work that just recently won 1st place in a local contest.
martyleo wrote:
I would like to hear from some seasoned photographers their opinions about shooting black and white versus desaturating a color photo. Is there a significant difference in quality, contrast and/or anything else that makes a good b & w photo?
Warm Morning Cocoa
Check out The Dynamics of Photographic Lighting section of our forum.
Feb 19, 2013 00:43:17 #
Picassa has an app for beginners to play around with b&w. Find filtered b&w, and enter a color pic to see the result of colored filters on the tone rendering in a converted color pic.
Feb 19, 2013 00:52:04 #
Feb 20, 2013 02:40:20 #
PalePictures wrote:
Your the best Captain. br You know I like to play ... (show quote)
Can u break this down a little as I am a beginner.
What does manual conversion mean.
What does composite HDR background with a nd filter mean and where do j find an overlay as you described.
I have photoshop elements 11 and I thought the only way of going black and whites was to desaturated!!!!... I would really appreciate if you could run me through some basic steps.
Thank you
Feb 20, 2013 07:30:02 #
In elements there should be a convert to black and white option somewhere.
Check out The Dynamics of Photographic Lighting section of our forum.
Feb 20, 2013 09:27:36 #
Shine11 wrote:
quote=PalePictures Your the best Captain. br You ... (show quote)
Unfortunately I don't do PS elements. CaptainC gives the best advice on people starting out. He's a really good teacher. I almost always agree with him although I poke fun at him sometimes.
The best way for most people to get good black and white images is to use a plugin. Even after you have converted many images to black and white you will probably still use a plugin. Everyone I know that is serious about B&W uses NIK Silver Efex. There are probably 30 presets many of which give good B&W results without any modifications.
When and if you start creating B&W as Photographic Art you will need to go beyond a plugin. It's not something that I could write here. You really need to form a base of knowledge.
To understand compositing and what it is I recommend the book by Matt Kloskowski "Photoshop Compositing Secrets".
You probably want to read his book on layers first.
To understand a little more about HDR photography just Google HDR.
A ND filter is a Neutral Density filter. It's a dark filter that goes over the camera lens to create longer exposures. They work well on water and sky shots( in some cases).
As far as Black and White is concerned, I would recommend any course work and books by Vincent Versace. He recommends Silver Efex also.
I also have coursework coming out in March on a site under construction called ClipsofTips.com.
You can do some searches on Youtube for videos but from what I have found its a start but it's not enough. To get really good you need to get structured/organized training. If you really love photography you need to spend the (dollars/pounds). Instructors who you pay tend to give better and more complete answers!
Best wishes with your journey.
Russ
Feb 20, 2013 09:47:47 #
coco1964 wrote:
I was taught to shoot in color and then to convert to B&W. Not only was I told not to desaturate but to push up the saturation before converting. ...
me too, to "overdo" a color version then use the b/w conversion tool.
Feb 20, 2013 09:56:01 #
Feb 21, 2013 13:18:01 #
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