Need your opinions/help with B/W: As of late I have begun to appreciate the beauty of black and white photography given the right subject.My questions are, is it better to: 1) shoot...

watchwinder Loc: Churubusco, Indiana

As of late I have begun to appreciate the beauty of black and white photography given the right subject.My questions are, is it better to:
1) shoot in b/w
2) convert in camera to b/w
3) shoot in color and convert to b/w in photoshop
4) jpg or raw?
I know Ansel will never be envious of my shots but I would at least like to start out on the right foot, any help would be appreciated.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

watchwinder wrote:

As of late I have begun to appreciate the beauty of black and white photography given the right subject.My questions are, is it better to:
1) shoot in b/w
2) convert in camera to b/w
3) shoot in color and convert to b/w in photoshop
4) jpg or raw?
I know Ansel will never be envious of my shots but I would at least like to start out on the right foot, any help would be appreciated.

Shoot in color and convert in post.

Raw...

Simple easy peasy.

GWR100 Loc: England

I always shoot RAW / jpeg or just RAW and always convert in either Lightroom or Photoshop, and go from there.

watchwinder wrote:

As of late I have begun to appreciate the beauty of black and white photography given the right subject.My questions are, is it better to:
1) shoot in b/w
2) convert in camera to b/w
3) shoot in color and convert to b/w in photoshop
4) jpg or raw?
I know Ansel will never be envious of my shots but I would at least like to start out on the right foot, any help would be appreciated.

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

Shoot film

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Shoot in color and convert in post.

Raw...

Simple easy peasy.[/quote]I've heard that also, what does shooting in color and converting in black & white give you rather than just shooting in black & white?

charles brown Loc: Tennesse

watchwinder wrote:

As of late I have begun to appreciate the beauty of black and white photography given the right subject.My questions are, is it better to:
1) shoot in b/w
2) convert in camera to b/w
3) shoot in color and convert to b/w in photoshop
4) jpg or raw?
I know Ansel will never be envious of my shots but I would at least like to start out on the right foot, any help would be appreciated.

I recently looked at an article in a UK magazine that had a detailed description of the process to change a color photo to B&W. if I remember correctly a lot more involved than just hitting the convert icon. And the results were fabulous. Can't remember which magazine but you might check your local book store. Sorry cant be of any further help but also seem to remember that there is a UK magazine devoted to B&W photography. Good luck and post some photos.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

[/quote]I've heard that also, what does shooting in color and converting in black & white give you rather than just shooting in black & white?[/quote]

You have a color version in case you want it in future. And from what I've read here and other places, doing color initially gives you more tonal range.

saichiez Loc: Beautiful Central Oregon

My understanding from talking with people who do Post Processing is that shooting with the B/W set in the camera, does not record the color channels. The price paid is the flexibility to do a lot more with the image when Post Processing.

When I did do Post Processing two helpful books were:

Advanced Digital Black & White Photography by John Beardsworth

and his original:

Digital black and white photography.

mtnredhed Loc: The part of NorCal that doesn't move

Shoot raw. Then you can apply filters to enhance specific effects.

watchwinder Loc: Churubusco, Indiana

Thanks guy's looks like shooting in color raw with pp is the way to go.Gives me more flexability and a color backup to boot!! Might be kicking myself a few years up the road if I wanted to see how the origanl setup actually converted.Only been on this forum for about a year but so far I have found it nothing but educational and helpful.
JIM

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

watchwinder wrote:

As of late I have begun to appreciate the beauty of black and white photography given the right subject.My questions are, is it better to:
1) shoot in b/w
2) convert in camera to b/w
3) shoot in color and convert to b/w in photoshop
4) jpg or raw?
I know Ansel will never be envious of my shots but I would at least like to start out on the right foot, any help would be appreciated.

You can shoot however you want. The question will always be, what is your time worth?

You can shoot in any mode (RAW, JPG, and both), and PP the images from color to B&W.

You can set your camera to capture the images in Monochrome (B&W), and the reset to color and capture the same scene in full color. Later you can compare the color images converted into B&W with the original images captured in B&W at the moment of capture.

If you elect to capture the images in B&W you can then add colored filters to the lens to affect the blues, greens, and other earth tones before capture. This is more like using original B&W film in the days of Ansel Addams.

If you select shooting in B&W You may well save yourself several hours in front of the computer trying to remove all hints of color in your image. Try printing a converted image in B&W.

Michael G

GWR100 Loc: England

Good luck mate, look forward to seeing your results.

watchwinder wrote:

Thanks guy's looks like shooting in color raw with pp is the way to go.Gives me more flexability and a color backup to boot!! Might be kicking myself a few years up the road if I wanted to see how the origanl setup actually converted.Only been on this forum for about a year but so far I have found it nothing but educational and helpful.
JIM

mtnredhed Loc: The part of NorCal that doesn't move

Armadillo wrote:

br You can shoot however you want. The question ... (show quote)

Understand that "shooting in B&W" is really a jpg output that your camera's jpg processing does. The camera doesn't actually capture the image in B&W. You could stick a filter on your lens, but post processing provides far more options.

You could accept what your camera outputs but there are far better and more interesting (see Topaz, Nik) ways to do this.

The only filters I carry anymore are ND and CP.

kaz6756 Loc: Canarsie,Brooklyn, New York

Darkroom317 wrote:

Shoot film

AMEN

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

I would shoot RAW/JPEG in B&W.