Shooting B & W

Hi Bill,

I shoot raw and use Lightzone for B&W conversion - our next workshop will heavily feature B&W conversion... should be a great opportunity to share & learn.

Cheers

Brian

 

I mostly shoot RAW... I have been playing with some of the art filters, but I still find that my B&W conversion works much better...

I think the in camera monotone is just a zero saturation. The Grainy film filter adds contrast and noise to it.. However I have tried using the monotone color effect just to be able to see the shot in B&W in the EVF while composing.

 

The Oly E-P1/2 has colour filters you can apply to in-cam jpegs... red, yellow, orange and possibly green by memory.

Cheers

Brian

 

I shoot RAW, then, if an image looks like a good BW candidate, in Lightroom run a one-click conversion (takes less than a second). If it looks OK then I go back to the original colour and convert within LR and or with the Silver Effex plugin.

 

Bill,
I do raw only. It is my intention to do B&W. So if I make a color image, it was a new discovery for me. I don't see/like color.
Ok, there are many ways to convert to B&W but....
it all depends on how well your color image is.

I bring the image into LR, make it look as good as I can in a color image..then use Silver Effex either in LR or in PS.

If you can swing Silver Effex, I urge you to do so.
There is a free trial available here....
http://www.niksoftware.com/site/

Once you try it, you'll rest assured knowing that you can convert anything you want.

 

OK.. i thought i had posted a response.. but must have got distracted and clicked another window before posting

i shoot RAW... have the LCD on the cameras showing B/W

Raw processing is in Aperture... with occasional trips to Silver FX

K

 

I shoot raw and then have my own presets in Lightroom. But if I go out and plan ahead to do B&W I just use B&W film. That is the easiest conversion for me

Cheers
rst

 

Jpeg for me on the G1

I shoot jpeg for B&W as the G1's Dynamic B&W is what I am looking for, that was the reason I bought the LX3, I was enthused that Panasonic had incorporated it into the G1.

I like that I don't have to spend time in P&P afterwards, sometimes I prefer that that the process has been taken out of my hands as I am never completely satisfied/convinced that my P&P is quite 'there' with B&W.

 

Hi Bill,

I always shoot Raw, convert using ACR in photoshop and once I am happy with the colour version I use Nik Silver Effex to convert to B&W, it is probably the best dedicated B&W conversion tool I have personally ever used and it embeds into Photoshop easily and smoothly.