BrettOssman Loc: near Tampa, Florida

Swore I read somewhere not use to use filters for shooting B&W on a digital. Can actually cause more harm than good.

Any B&W gurus out there have feedback on this?

twowindsbear

What harm could a fillter possibly do?

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

I would not use them because they restricting the light reaching the sensor. All of the effects can be done in post processing except polarization and neutral density effects.

BrettOssman Loc: near Tampa, Florida

This was a while back, so maybe the "harm" part was a mis-recollection. However, did say not to use them.

:D

BrettOssman Loc: near Tampa, Florida

What filters do you use to mimic the B&W ones on the camera? I tried some, but didn't have the effect that I thought.

I use Photoshop Elements, if that helps.

FredB Loc: A little below the Mason-Dixon line.

What is generally held up to be "true" in the digital age is that filters that used to be commonly used with FILM to get different color effects (yellows, reds, blues, warming filters, and so on) are UNNECESSARY in the age of digital post-processing, as the effects they provide can be supplied with SOFTWARE.

However, certain filters, such as Circular Polarizers are still useful in the digital arena, because their effects are not commonly available in post processing software.

It is a relatively simple task in virtually any post processing software, for example, to convert a color image to black and white.

photog601 Loc: New York, NY

Hi Brette,

If anything you can use Topaz software which has polarization, all black & white filters and a whole black and white feature for all your black and white needs. I use this and it is fantastic.
my 2 cents

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Even Picasa (free photo editor) has a b&w feature that mimics using a colored filter. As to shooting a b&w image in-camera vs. converting in pp, most everything I've read says you will get better results doing it all pp - with the bonus that you'll have your original color jpg or raw image to do other fun stuff to :)

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

There's a very good reason to follow this process: if you have color raw you can adjust the tonal range for individual colors-- much like an 80A would darken a blue sky for monochrome film. If you shoot the monochrome "in camera", tonal range adjustments in pp affect the whole image.

cthahn

Go back and read the article again. If someone wrote this, they are not a photographer. There are many filters to use. Neutral density, split neutral density, circular or linear polarizer, and others. Rad some photography magazines and learn something.

EstherP

Is it safe to assume you mean the filters built into your camera?

I used the monotone filters in my camera just once...
I can choose from B/W, Sepia, Blue, Purple and Green and of course had to try them out. I can also select Vivid Colour for taking my pictures, and turn them into monotone in PP.

The colours I didn't like at all. The B/W looked great, but even so I felt that that same picture in colour would have been much nicer. And because I can turn an existing picture into B/W but I don't have the skills (does anyone?) to turn a B/W picture into a coloured one, I always shoot in colour.
EstherP

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Depends on what you mean by harm. Will a #25 red filter used in B&W to darken the sky and highlight white clouds cause a shot with a digital camera to look red, of course. If thats what you want for some effect Ok..If you like yellow pics use a yellow filter. Tell you the truth I never thought about doing that. Give it a try. Might be interesting. As far as harming the camera in any way it's no different than shooting a colored scene.

fcrawley Loc: Melbourne, FL

Great discussion. This goes back to the days of B&W film and how it made grays from reflected wavelengths of light with respect to both light intensity and color. Orthochromatic films are sensitive to blue but insensitive to red, whereas panchromatic films are sensitive into the red region. Color filters are used with these films to absorb certain parts of the color spectrum before the light hit the film in order to alter the spectrum hitting the film resulting in contrast changes in the negative. Most commonly used are yellow filters that absorb blue. Green, orange and red also produce dramatic results with film.

Digital is different in that all colors are recorded on the sensor. So ideally, you would not want specific parts of the spectrum absorbed before recording the image. Instead you would want it recorded in RAW, then alter the contrast in PP when converting to a monochrome image. With this you can now take one image but produce the effects in PP that at one time took different exposures each with a different filter to do.

ND filters and Circular Polarizers are different in that, for the most part, they absorb evenly across the spectrum and produce dramatic effects to the image before the light hits the sensor that often cannot be achieved in PP.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Required reading:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People-ebook/dp/B003WEAI4E

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

There is a way to colorize B&W film. We have all seen color versions of B&W movies. But I think that the process is way to Pricy for individual photos