Christmas portrait today.. Need some advice.

[RKW3]

I have to take a photo of four people today, and we're going to try to duplicate a really old photo (same place, b&w, etc.). I have a question:

Since this photo needs to be black and white, should I choose the b&w filter on my camera or should the black and white be added in PP? I know a big problem people have with digital b&w's is that there is too much 'middle grey' and it looks too digitalised. Will choosing the b&w option on my camera help or should I just try my best at converting though photoshop?

I'm sure I will think up more questions later, any advice or answers are appreciated!

 

[Sideburns]

Use photoshop. Always use photoshop.
Well..you could use other programs. But the point is, don't do it using your camera. There's really no reason.

Shoot RAW, and play around with levels once you get it into photoshop and all grayscaled.

This is why I like Lightroom, and they have presets for high contrast/low contrast black and white, and normal grayscale.

 

[RKW3]

Okay Sideburns, thanks. I'll take your advice.

 

[Happy Hour]

I agree with Sideburns. Take it color then flip it 2 B&W on the Computer. I've experimented with this and the color changed to black and white always looks Better You get better quality out of the photo

 

[ABlythe]

I second that! Shoot in color and make the B&W changes in PhotoShop. Good luck!

 

[iriairi]

Is there any consideration to take in the photo knowing that you are going B&W? Colors that translate better or colors that don't? The thread just got me wondering?

 

[cameramike]

with out being 100% sure (i mean I'm just going off of "common sense" sorta), yes there are some things that can be done differently knowing its going to be b\w. for example if your going against a darker colored background any one with a dark colored shirt that may stick out in color will blend in more in b\w.

 

[Sideburns]

Is there any consideration to take in the photo knowing that you are going B&W? Colors that translate better or colors that don't? The thread just got me wondering?

Usually things with high contrast work better in B+W

 

[JerryPH]

Sideburns echos what I have read elsewhere, and what I follow and have had the best results with as well.

Convert to B&W in PP... and shoot in RAW if your camera permits for best results and a higher level of control.

 

[openedmind]

This is why I like Lightroom, and they have presets for high contrast/low contrast black and white, and normal grayscale.

I'm not sure about older versions, but photoshop cs3 also has these presets. So, if you have lightroom or PPcs3, you can achieve some nice results.

 

[Holy Ghosted]

I'm jumping on the band wagon PP is the place I do all mine in light room and have a ton of presets for it. there are very few people that can give PP a run for its money

 

[JerryPH]

You know... I just took about 10 pics and played with converting them to B&W. None of the presets in CS3 gave me the results that I wanted, however, sliding the saturation slider down as far to the left as it went and some light playing with contrast and brightness immediately gave me what I wanted.

Based on my tastes and experiences, I would not even recommend the B&W presets in CS3. The results are faster with a few manual options.