edwdickinson Loc: Ardmore PA

Does anyone know of any benefit to setting camera to monochrome when shooting in raw?

Marionsho Loc: Kansas

You do get the benefit of seeing the image in B and W on the screen.
Marion

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

When finishing the B+W image in post you are better off leaving it in color then changing it in post. Doing in this way will give you more tonal control over the image in post.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

If you're shooting in raw, it should not make a difference. If I'm not mistaken, if you shoot B&W raw and open the file in Lightroom, it actually opens in color. But I'd have to confirm that.

travelwp Loc: New Jersey

No, I don't. I shoot in color and convert:

http://travelwp.com/index-street-photography.htm

DaveHam Loc: Reading UK

No. None at all.

anotherview Loc: California

Yes, the photographer can then determine if the subject qualifies for black-and-white or color rendition. This is a big subject. Look up black-and-white photography to review its characteristics for producing a worthy photography.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Exactly. Raw is raw and is in Color. At least with Adobe products. Convert to B&W in PP even if you use JPGs. You have much more control. I actually shoot many digital images with the intent of making a B&W and never visualized it in my mind as color. Comes from ages of shooting B&W film I guess.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Shooting raw in B&W can help some people visualize the B&W results better It can help with framing for instance or seeing if the texture, shape and tonal contrast might be well served in monochrome.. Once in Lightroom you can do the color to B&W conversion as normal. If you use a Canon camera and Canon's own DPP software, it will open raw files shot in B&W in monochrome, but you can easily restore it to color by selecting a different picture style in the software. Of course shooting jpeg is a whole different story.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

If you shoot raw, depending on the software you use, it will default to color and you will still be doing the conversion in post.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

YES. IF you use a mirrorless camera with an EVF, you can view and compose in B&W, adjust other JPEG processing parameters, and pre-visualize the scene better.

Save raw so you can do any sort of post processing you want in color or B&W. Also save JPEG if you use a camera from Olympus, Fujifilm, or Panasonic that has really decent on-board B&W pre-processing options.

With most dSLRs, you can use live view for pre-visualization, or view B&W JPEGs on the LCD screen, but most of them produce mediocre B&W JPEGs.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

On my IR modded camera, shooting RAW + JPEG and choosing B&W has the advantage that I see on the LCD the image in B&W rather than shades of red. But the RAW still has all the color information and is ready to be processed however I want. I have no use for the B&W JPEGs that are produced.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

I don't think shooting B&W in RAW isn't really shooting in B&W but that the camera is just showing it without the color. All of the color information is still in the RAW file. However, in post processing, changing the image to black and white is easily accomplished (at least in Adobe Lightroom and I think, Photoshop but probably other venders too) so why bother. You are not saving space on your media card or storage on the computer as that color data is still in the original file, just not displayed. Personally, I evaluate the possibilities of color or no color (or limit the color to certain areas or types of color) during post processing because I can view the results on a laptop or desktop size monitor (and zoom in to areas) to get a better representation of the final results. There probably is not really any difference anyway as the data is still there, but why bother? I want to see my results on a 24"inch or larger screen as I work it rather than the small screen on the back of the camera. Besides, when I'm shooting, I don't want to back and forth fiddling with my color balance etc. on the camera, I just shoot and deal with that stuff after the fact. For me, this is one of the advantages of digital photography over film. In the film world, you had to load the camera with b&w film for black and white images (generally), color print film for color prints (also generally) and color slide film for color slides (or Cibachrome or a couple of other slide to print processes). Now, with digital, you just shoot and make the presentation decisions later (does anyone still shoot color slides for prints? I didn't it all of the time back in the day).

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

It may help you visualize what you will eventually get.

I do find this setting useful with a camera I have that has its IR filter removed. Without setting the camera to monochrome there is so much red in the image that I can't see much of anything. I shoot raw, however, so all of the color is there to play with when processing.

RichieC Loc: Adirondacks

Your camera sensor is sensitive to color on channels of RGB…. so all it is s doing is dropping saturation levels to zero… yeah it could give you sort of a preview… but a well exposed image is all you really need- even if you want a final product of B&W.

PP can adjust the ratios of these individual channels and drastically adjust how the different colors relate to each other in B&W…

i.e. Red and GReen colors in real life appear as the exact same shade or "value" of grey… ( these two colors are often what colors color-blind people have difficulty in distinguishing between- a affliction I find fascinating as color is such an important part of my professional life. ASLO- put a red and green item next to each other in low light and you too will have difficulty.) ANYWAYS, you open file in Photoshop and adjust the color of green to yellow, and they are no longer the same value of grey, but widely different shades…. the reds will look much darker.

Here, do this.

Open a color image of your choice in photoshop.

In layers palate;

1) Create an adjustment layer of "Hue & saturation" and set JUST saturation slider to left to Zero… Your image will appear just as it would in your camera if set to monotone- it is now B&W…

Return to image layer and select it.

2) Now create another "Hue & Saturation" adjustment layer (in-between the adjustment layer and image layer) and set it from where it says "Normal" ( NOrmal is default setting in the drop down box at top of layers palate) and drag down to select "COLOR" , this new adjustment layer has to be below the first adjustment layer that made your image B&W in step one. Double click on icon of this layer to open dialog box "Properties"…. now grab a hold of the "HUE" slider and move it back and forth and watch your B&W image "dance".

You will see the tones of your RGB image change drastically as you are screwing with the colors when you change the hue slider, but these adjustments are changed in real time to B&W in top layer set to Saturation to zero!!

3) Stop where you like your image best. Save as a second file in Tiff (RGB) for output- save this layered file for future adjustments or if you ever want to return to the color version.


For giggles, turn off top adjustment layer than makes everything B&W, and see what your color image looks like from the remaining adjustment layer set to "color " it will look like it might to someone on LSD! This should be an ephiany on how you can adjust a B&W image till it pops….

Note that this is an example of a non-destructive work flow as the original image layer is never touched except by the adjustment layers above! You can always go back and re-adjust!

A pearl of wisdom here in converting a color image to B&W for a quick solution to achieve best reproduction contrast in a single color "monotone" print world as in newspapers ads….etc.

:)