Shooting digital in black and white: I have a Nikon D 7200 and would like to experiment with black and white photography. What settings should I use in my camera and can I use...

theehmann

I have a Nikon D 7200 and would like to experiment with black and white photography. What settings should I use in my camera and can I use Photoshop Elements and Nik Collection to enhance my images? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Quixdraw Loc: x

If you want to shoot in black and white go to the Photo Shooting Menu / Set Picture Controls / Monochrome. I have the U1 set for that so that I can change on the fly. Works well.

theehmann

Thank you so much

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I believe you will get better results if you shoot in color and convert to b&w in post-processing.

theehmann

Thank you for your suggestion.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

quixdraw wrote:

If you want to shoot in black and white go to the Photo Shooting Menu / Set Picture Controls / Monochrome. I have the U1 set for that so that I can change on the fly. Works well.

jaymatt wrote:

I believe you will get better results if you shoot in color and convert to b&w in post-processing.

Both answers are correct.

You can get a better preview if it displays as B&W on your LCD. It’s going to help you judge your composition, exposure and the potential of the image.

But the camera’s JPEG can always be improved on by developing from raw on your computer.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

selmslie wrote:

Both answers are correct.

You can get a better preview if it displays as B&W on your LCD. It’s going to help you judge your composition, exposure and the potential of the image.

But the camera’s JPEG can always be improved on by developing from raw on your computer.

Right you are. The camera should record the monochrome as a JPEG. If RAW + JPEG is on, the OP should still have the full color version to work with.

theehmann

Thank you so much.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

theehmann wrote:

I have a Nikon D 7200 and would like to experiment with black and white photography. What settings should I use in my camera and can I use Photoshop Elements and Nik Collection to enhance my images? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Shoot raw then using software switch to B&W, you have more control as well as a better potential going this way than selecting 'monochrome' that produces 8 bit JPG images.

theehmann

Great tip. Thank you.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

theehmann wrote:

I have a Nikon D 7200 and would like to experiment with black and white photography. What settings should I use in my camera and can I use Photoshop Elements and Nik Collection to enhance my images? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I would not change anything in the camera except for recording a raw file as opposed to jpeg. You then can use a wide variety of tools, including Nik, Topaz and On1, as well as the excellent presets in Lightroom and Photoshop and other to convert your images to B&W.

Here are 7 methods in Photoshop alone that you can use - some may even be available to you in PSE. It's a 10 yr old article but mostly still valid. Nik's Silver Effects Pro is excellent as well. You adjust as necessary to make your image look the way that you want. There is no hard and fast "settings formula" that can work for all images.

http://vnf-west.nl/BlackandWhite/7BW_PS_Conversion.html

Shooting black and white in the camera will significantly narrow your post processing and styling options. So I would suggest against doing that.

theehmann

Gene, this covers it all. Great stuff! I thank you.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Gene51 wrote:

I would not change anything in the camera except for recording a raw file as opposed to jpeg. ....

Setting the camera to monochrome does not mean you need to save a JPEG. It only needs to affect the preview and that can help as I have already said. You can still save the raw file without the JPEG.

It might get you off on the right foot when you start to develop the raw file on your computer. Depending on your software, it might show up as a B&W image when you start to edit if your editor applies the camera's JPEG settings that were saved in the raw file.

theehmann

selmslie wrote:

Setting the camera to monochrome does not mean you need to save a JPEG. It only needs to affect the preview and that can help as I have already said. You can still save the raw file without the JPEG.

It might get you off on the right foot when you start to develop the raw file on your computer. Depending on your software, it might show up as a B&W image when you start to edit if your editor applies the camera's JPEG settings that were saved in the raw file.

Thanks for your response.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Another vote to shoot RAW data in camera and then convert to b&w. I use Topaz B&W Effects 2 but Nik software will do a similar job.
With RAW data we have more flexibility.