Is RAW Editing with B&W Images Necessary? (Page 2): The first important processing for B&W is to shoot RAW and convert it to B&W. This enables you to control how the colors are...

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Silverrails wrote:

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.

The first important processing for B&W is to shoot RAW and convert it to B&W. This enables you to control how the colors are converted to grey tones. You can lighten or darken skies or skin tones, or create contrast between two colors which might render as the same tone of grey if you just capture the image in B&W. After that you can control contrast, and burn and dodge just like we did printing B&W film.

Peterfiore Loc: Where DR goes south

stevelink wrote:

Greetings! I find that processing/editing a B&... (show quote)

Curious about the setting you used to get that SOOC.

tdozier3 Loc: Northern Illinois

Silverrails wrote:

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.

I shoot in color and convert to B&W in post processing, so it's a yes for me

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Silverrails wrote:

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.

Not the Color? I specifically shoot in RAW and play with the color channels in PP to exaggerate or tone down adjacent shades of gray to try and make my image's message more appropriate. RAW conversion is the only way to go IMHO.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Silverrails wrote:

......What aspect of a B&W Image would you feel would Require Editing?.....

In very general terms the standout difference between colour and B&W is the amount of contrast that's needed. If flatness or softness aren't your objective you'll find that in almost all cases B&W editing involves using more contrast than the colour version would require. (One of the possible exceptions to that is portraiture, where contrast can have a very unflattering effect. Most people wouldn't want their granny to look like a weather-beaten hobo

).

Coming a close second to contrast would be local adjustments to brightness in order to manipulate the viewer's attention. That technique is used in colour editing as well but in B&W it acquires more significance. (The same can be said for sharpening).

Without the visual cues that colour provides, the cues of brightness, contrast and sharpness become more relevant. The placement and intensity of brightness, contrast and sharpness are relevant in colour editing but they acquire greater significance in B&W editing.

anotherview Loc: California

Checked-out photographers recommend to develop the photograph first for its color then for its B&W qualities. Further, not all photographs appeal in B&W. So the photographer has to use his judgment in this matter.

Silverrails wrote:

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.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Silverrails wrote:

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.

"Definitely NOT the Color.!!" ????
I often work with the colors somewhat before converting to b/w, usually increasing the saturation somewhat. "Editing" would be basically doing the same things we would do in the darkroom, burning, dodging, contrast adjustments, sharpening, etc., etc.

photoman43

My answer is Yes. Many B & W digital images require the same steps previously done in a darkroom, like correct development and fixing, dodging and burning, etc and proper techniques.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Silverrails wrote:

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.

Raw is always preferable to the alternative.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

That is why I do what "CHG CANON" said, shoot JPG, print and sell.

Photomac Loc: The Dalles, Or

These are great responses, covering the gamet of what BW photography is really all about. BW conversion is the last step of many including significant attention to color grading. I would invite you to check out Blake Rudis f64 Youtube B/W tutorial.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Longshadow wrote:

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

Depends on how you define colors:
https://www.britannica.com/story/are-black-and-white-colors

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

miteehigh Loc: Arizona

Of course processing black and white benefits from having the greatest amount of information available at the beginning... that is raw. Since digital black and white begins with color one benefits from incorporating interpreting how color renders as black and white. We are attempting to attain a given tonal response in outputting black and white. In film photography (panchromatic) the emulsion is most sensitive to red. We, in outputting fine black and white need to recognize and utilize this. In film we use lens filtration... We do much the same in digital by manipulating the tonal response of the colors.

Kozan Loc: Trenton Tennessee

Silverrails wrote:

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.

Absolutely YES. And the reason is that the individual colors can be tweaked for brightness. You may want a green to be darker, or lighter. You may want to emphasize a RED in the scene. You can also change cyan and magenta. So, yes, colors are important in that they can be manipulated.
Always shoot in color and post process so you can get the exact image you want.