Silverrails

Do any of Our many Experienced and even the Still Progressing Photographers here at UHH Edit B&W Images?

If So, What aspect of a B&W Image would you feel would Require Editing?..... Definitely NOT the Color.!!

Please provide Specifics for the members of UHH that want to be more informed in Photo Editing.

Thank You.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

All your images are always level? None of your images benefit from cropping? None of your images benefit from sharpening or noise reduction? Your images are always exactly the desired brightness? There's never some distraction in your image that can / should be digitally removed?

The camera meter tries to balance the image to a neutral grey, whether in color or B&W. Wouldn't you want to increase the contrast and / or the blackness of the blacks and the whiteness of the whites, whether in color or B&W?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

(Aren't black, white, and various shades of grey colors also?, just not all of them.)

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Some are taken with black and white only. Those taken with digital are definitely processed through ACR and Ps. I rarely edit my photos. However, I do process all of them.

There are numerous ways to process a photo to render it as black and white. Processing the color under a black and white conversion layer can make a world of difference in the final "print".
--Bob

R.G. Loc: Scotland

There are some things that are common to B&W and colour. For example vividness can be used to draw the viewer's attention. And the opposite is true - a lack of vividness can be used to make objects or areas less attention-grabbing.

With colour, vividness is determined by brightness levels, contrast, sharpness and colour strength, to which you could add that some colours are more attention-grabbing than others. And with colour, contrast doesn't just involve relative brightness levels - it includes the effect of complementary colours.

With B&W, vividness is determined by brightness levels, contrast and sharpness. Because colour is missing as a determinant in B&W, those remaining three factors acquire a more significant role.

One could say that B&W is all about brightness levels, and that's not just a reference to how bright things are. In post processing the term "contrast" refers to contrasting brightness levels (in other words it's about relative brightness). Apart from the obvious role of overall brightness, B&W processing is very much about the placement and intensity of contrast.

The placement and intensity of sharpness is also a factor but compared to contrast, sharpness can be seen as playing a supporting role.

Ourspolair

I generally adjust the colour channels when doing a B&W conversion from a colour original to optimize the luminosity and obtain a result which emulates a panchromatic B&W film.

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

If you record the raw capture, then yes. All raw images require some degree of editing.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

Is raw editing with any images necessary? No. Why do it? When I edit a raw file the result that I produce is technically better than anything that can be produced using the software in the camera, color or B&W. I like better.

Specifically?

Better detail rendition.
Better noise control.
Better sharpness.
Better tone response.

The ability to modify the image locally rather than globally is reason enough and allows me to do a better job than the camera software can do.

stevelink Loc: Colorado

Greetings! I find that processing/editing a B&W jpeg in Photoshop affords a multitude of creative options. Regarding image sharpness, a main criterion of mine, I always try to optimize the sharpness of my desired focus point in camera, using appropriate lens, aperture, precise focus point, subject distance, DOF, etc., rather than relying on an sharpness/Unsharpness function in the software. That said, the myriad tools in Photoshop are often employed to "tweak" the image before final publication.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I guess pictures speak louder than words. Here's an SOOC and processed version of the same image.

This is typical of my digital images processed as black and white.
--Bob

SOOC

(Download)

Processed

(Download)

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

I edit ALL my b&w images, brighten areas , darken areas. the attached pic, I lightened the sky a bit but darkened the tree on the right.The tree on the right when light color just took away from the pic. your eye didn't flow up I wanted your eye to follow the water to the trees and then up to the clouds. I darkened the sky reflection in the water because your eye just hung there when it was lighter .
Some people love my B&W others hate them
either way I always edit them.

stevelink Loc: Colorado

Awesome B&W image, BDK! Love the dark sky which accentuates the clouds...similar to what a red filter does.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

How I edit monochrome will depend on the image and my goals for it. A good B&W photograph is far more than the removal of color. I shoot 100% raw. Monochrome is about line, shape, texture, shadow, tonal range and contrast. It is able to evoke emotions without the distraction of color. I will almost always use a channel mixture and very often digital color filters. Besides altering the relative tonality of an image, I will alter contrast, sharpen, and dodge and burn, among other things. I may also crop.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Pure black is not really a color. It's the absence of light and visible color. and pure white is all visible colors.