A few Noob questions for ya...

[Sirashley]

#1. I've been on here awhile and I've noticed in certain pictures, particularly when there is a storm on the horizon, the clouds look almost 3-dimensional. I was wondering how this is done? Is there a certain f-stop or aperture setting? Obviously mother nature helps out, but I was just curious.

#2. Are shooting in B&W mode in the camera, and shooting in color in RAW, then converting to B&W the same thing? I have shot some photo's in color and then converted them to B&W and I was wondering if I would have been better off shooting in the B&W mode in the camera? Basically, is there a difference?

Thanks in advance, you guys rock :thumbup:

 

[Overread]

1) I belive that those sorts of shots might be HDR - look it up (I know what it looks like but beyond that its alien to me)

2) If you shoot in BW all you get in the end is a BW shot. Now if you shoot in RAW you have 2 shots in one. You can convert to BW and you can also keep the shot in colour if you decied that the colour version is better. If you shoot BW you can't go colour ever.
Also RAW mode lets you also white balance and exposure in shots after you take them which is a massive help in getting shots right - and can also save some shots from the bin!

 

[LeftyRodriguez]

1) I find that some local contrast and saturation really helps give clouds a less-than-flat look.

2) Raw to B+W is the best way to go. The B+W conversion in camera is usually really flat and cold, lacking warmth and richness.

 

[Alex_B]

#1. I've been on here awhile and I've noticed in certain pictures, particularly when there is a storm on the horizon, the clouds look almost 3-dimensional. I was wondering how this is done? Is there a certain f-stop or aperture setting? Obviously mother nature helps out, but I was just curious.

- polariser!
- enhance contrast in pp
- or HDR (if you talk of that extreme almost plastic like look)

#2. Are shooting in B&W mode in the camera, and shooting in color in RAW, then converting to B&W the same thing? I have shot some photo's in color and then converted them to B&W and I was wondering if I would have been better off shooting in the B&W mode in the camera? Basically, is there a difference?

Shooting RAW and then converting to B&W gives you the most options and you can decide how you want it to look.

 

[Village Idiot]

Plus if you're using something like PS, the B&W converter lets you set the brightness of the tones and gives you more flexibility.

 

[Sirashley]

Thanks for the answers guys, I have been struggling with Black and White RAW conversions. I'm going to play around with GIMP tonight and see what I can do.

I'm going to try HDR eventually, but I'm still learning the basics at this point. I have a polarizer so that's good. I'm going to wait for a storm to pop up in the distance one of these days and try my luck.

Thanks again everyone...

 

[ksm]

+1 on the polarizer. Makes the white and blue contrast greater