wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

yes, foot switches for my enlargers are perfect as it allows me to freely dodge and burn where needed, during exposure. oh, and let me not forget the gralab darkroom timer, also great for film processing. have had them for about 100 years and they remain, for me, one of the best out there.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

The best gadget I had was the Ilford Multigrade enlarger head. You could program a burn and dodge sequence on the timer. AND it came with a footswitch.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Yep - a Gralab is a great investment. You can use it both as an enlarger timer and to time developing. I've seen used ones in the $25-30 range recently (I have two)

DJO

This is an experiment I tried. I took a picture of of a red Jeep and dragged it into Photoshop. It's possible to convert the image directly to B&W with one click of the mouse. The result will be pretty much the same as using B&W mode in the camera- your Jeep is now medium gray. Alternatively, go to layer/ new adjustment layer, and then go to either hue/saturation or black and white. Just two different ways of doing the same thing, which is controlling lightness/darkness of colors- R G B C M Y- individually. The Jeep can now be black, white, or any gray in between without altering gray scale tones in the rest of the image.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

OK. So it's easy to convert a color image to black and white. What about making a black and white photo? Don't you need to see it in your mind as Ansel Adams did before making the exposure? Don't you need to calculate ahead of time? The light, the contrast, the filters? Sure you can play with it all in pp, but doesn't the initial capture still affect your degrees of freedom in B&W? Don't you still need to be able to plan for the final image?

arousey Loc: Morrison, Colorago

Absolutely. Previsualization should be a part of your photography process no matter what your shooting preference, color or black and white. Otherwise you are just taking snapshots. Adams was an absolute control freak if you will. That's why he primarily worked in black and white. Color processing in his time was severely limited and black and white gave him the control he needed to make his photographs what they are.

I think the spirit of the question, though, and most of the responses, was whether or not to simply shoot in black and white or shoot in color and convert. In this day and age why anyone would not shoot raw, taking all of your thoughts in mind as they should, and have an option for color or black and white seems actually short sited. Who knows what you might think of an image after capture and once in post. If you simply shoot black and white in camera and let the camera process you have taken all other options away.

Back to your thought on Adams, while nobody can say for sure, I really doubt that if he had todays technology, knowing what a darkroom workhorse, perfectionist and master he was, that he would simply choose to shoot in black and white and discard all color information from his workflow. Just my thoughts.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Exactly: http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1932762,00.html

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I no longer do home darkroom work (haven't since 1993 or so), but still have all my gear.

From 1968-1993, I set up temporary darkrooms in four different bathrooms and two apartment kitchens many times. I never had my own permanent darkroom setup at home. My B22XL sits perfectly on a microwave oven cart I used to store trays, tanks, reels, chemicals and related stuff. Black garden plastic and black duct tape are your friends... Most spaces can be darkened if you are determined enough.

mtbear

You don't even need a darkroom to process film. Put your light tight can, film, a church key and scissors in a changing bag and load up. With careful light management your darkroom doesn't need to be absolutely dark. For example light coming in under the door may fog film, use the bag, but isn't likely to bother your prints.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I wonder how many younger readers will get the "church key" reference?

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Hey, we may not go to church, but we do need to open important things!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I was wondering that too!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Like good beer and 35mm cassettes...😈

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Yep, and sometimes at the same time!

You have to believe in something, and I believe that I will have another drink!

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

just wanted to weigh in re: your final paragraph. it is not widley known (these days), but Mr. Adams took many colour photographs throughout his career. he spent a lot of time, making a living, as a commercial photographer, and very often used colour material.