B&W In Camera Vs. PP?

[Einstein]

How do you capture your B&W images? Are their advantages to setting the camera to shoot in B&W or does it make more sense to shoot color and PP to B&W?

 

[Darkhunter139]

Id rather shoot in color and PP to B&W this way I will have a color version of the shot as well. I dont think there would be an advantage to shooting B&W in camera....its actually a disadvantage imo but I could be wrong.

 

[Derrel]

I prefer to shoot in RAW+ JPEG Medium Fine, using the sepia image tone and the Yellow Filter effect, with the contrast appropriate to the lighting, and in-camera sharpness turned up fairly high. This is with a Canon d-slr. I think that shooting the Medium size JPEG with Fine Compression and not Large JPEG gives a slightly better, down-sampled image straight out of the camera.

The RAW data,with all cameras (Canon, Nikon, Fuji), will be in full, RGB color, but the in-camera JPEG images will be monochrome. Some cameras, like Fuji d-slrs and Canon d-slr's, produce pretty credible monochrome images in-camera. The advantage is that you can shoot in monochrome, and look at the results on the LCD and can evaluate the image *as a monochrome image* in the field or studio. A monochrome image depends more on line,shape, hue, and tonal value than a color image does,and the evaluation of a monochrome image on the LCD is very different from evaluating a color image. Done RAW+ JPEG monochrome, you get monochrome images, but have the full color info as well, if you want to do a PS conversion, or want to go with full-color.

To me, if you want monochrome as the finished product, you might as well light and compose for monochrome,and show some artistic integrity by being able to commit at the camera to something as simple as monochrome JPEGs with the full safety of 12- or 14-bit RGB capture as a fudge factor.

 

[SoonerBJJ]

How about B&W film?

I fussed over how to make my digital photos look like "real" B&W, then it occurred to me. I dusted off my dad's 35mm and got myself a RB67 and tonight I processed my first B&W negatives. I'll probably do some printing but scan the bulk of them. Opened up a whole new world.

 

[nemopaice]

If you're using a DSLR, shoot in RAW. If you shot in B&W you can change it yo a color image in RAW software if you decide you don;t like it. Plus while in the RAW software you can still experiment with the tones of the B&W as well, before you ever convert it to jpg.

This works best for me, anyhow.

 

[Einstein]

Thanks Derrel, helpful exlanation!

I use a canon 30d and shoot in both RAW + JPEG L Fine at the moment. This is very helpfull as i am begining to learn the + and - of shooting jpeg v raw etc. It seems most people shoot raw and pp which is when i started wondering why have in camera B&W?

I like the idea of being able to instantly view B&W results in camer and I will try out the sepia and monochrom in camera features next time im shooting.

 

[Village Idiot]

Shoot in color and then use a program like Photo Shop to convert to B&W. This gives you the ability to adjust the levels of certain colors in conversion. That allows you to have perfect control of how the final image comes out, rather than allowing your camera to do it for you.

 

[IgsEMT]

Used to do in-camera. Now in PP. I can tweak it more in PP and give it more depth.

 

[PhotoXopher]

Thanks for the tips Derrel, I just tried out your exact settings and I'm very happy with the results from it.

JPEG straight from the camera.