B&W conversion

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Carlos68

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Carl
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I've just had a bit of a moan in someones critique thread, which i'm now feeling a bit guilty about.

What i said was that it seems to be a fad at the moment to convert pictures to B&W, don't get me wrong i think some shots look fantastic when converted but it just seems a lot of people do it just for the sake of it :shrug:

I must admit i have done the odd conversion but not lots, does anyone else agree or am i just being a miserable git :bang:
 
I see 2 trends

- If I cant fix it make it B&W
- I shot it with B&W in mind, its a cracker
 
I Photograph with colour in mind most of the time and often convert to b&w. Nowt to do with it being a crappy colour photograph, just that b&w looks better to me.

It's output that matters to me, however I get there.

Cheers now cheer up. ;)
 
Forgive my ignorance, I'm just starting out with photography.
I was just wondering are there different approaches to producing a B&W image? I know in the old days if you wanted B&W, you shot with B&W film. But with digital, is it always converted post processing, or do some cameras have an option to shoot in B&W?
 
A lot of cameras now have the option to shoot in B&W. Which is fine if you're shooting raw, as the camera will still output in colour (but have the B&W data available) but not so much with jpeg as the output will be B&W only, so you can't change your mind and see what it looked like in colour.
 
Thanks for your answer Andy.
So basically shooting in raw would be my best option as it would give more control if I decided to convert to B&W?
 
Yes and no. Nothing stopping you shooting colour jpeg's and converting to b&w in post processing, but raw files contain more data and allow you more flexibility in post processing. It all comes down to how much time, if any, you want to spend on the computer, if you want to keep this to a minimum, then it makes sense to shoot b&w in camera.
 
viewfromthenorth said:
A lot of cameras now have the option to shoot in B&W. Which is fine if you're shooting raw, as the camera will still output in colour (but have the B&W data available) but not so much with jpeg as the output will be B&W only, so you can't change your mind and see what it looked like in colour.
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Aaaah that explains why my mono images taken in camera weren't imported as b&w - cheers mate :thumbs:

Black & white has it's place, it can really make an image, and some images look best in colour
 
viewfromthenorth said:
If you're using the manufacturers software to import the photos to your computer, then if memory serves me correctly you should be able to see the b&w version of the raw file. I think you can in lightroom, but it's a while since i've done it so i may well be wrong.
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I use Aperture, really should get around to installing the Canon software at some point
 
Richard King said:
I see 2 trends

- If I cant fix it make it B&W
- I shot it with B&W in mind, its a cracker
Click to expand...

Lol ok so thats what B&W is for :lol:

Seriously though i suppose as posiview says you shoot how you like and convert how you like, colour or b&w i just thought that sometimes it doesn't seem to work and i would like to see the colour version.

posiview, much happier today :thumbs:
 
Carlos68 said:
Lol ok so thats what B&W is for :lol:

Seriously though i suppose as posiview says you shoot how you like and convert how you like, colour or b&w i just thought that sometimes it doesn't seem to work and i would like to see the colour version.

posiview, much happier today :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I often shoot a shot with B&W in mind, and then process it to B&W afterwards

I am a RAW shooter, I have a reversible lossless process right up to the point I convert to JPEG. If you convert to B&W in camera you are actually shooting in RAW, and converting to JPEG in camera, you are thus handing over the creative editing process to your camera

The world is NOT B&W, it is colour. Your camera records colour. if you want B&W, shoot it with B&W in mind, and convert it later

We can all argue the toss about IR or UV, but TBH that is a minor issue

Tonality, is also a red herring, as is not exclusive to B&W, you can have compressed or stretched or even tones in colour too. People are more focussed on it with B&W, because once you strip out all of the colour info, tonality is one of the few things you can manipulate. Also, back in the days of printing on paper in a dark room, matching papers to images whilst not screwing up the print meant that keeping dynamic range and tonality between the rails. Nowadays if you screw up, you just re-process it differently in Lightroom, and you dont cost yourself a fortune in paper
 
I have to be honest and say that with my railway photography if the sun does not shine then a lot do get converted to bw. However have just been to power from the past at beamish and some scenarios I had nothing but bw in my mind when I took them. As Andy said all shot in raw so the colour option is there for some.

Just as a footnote what a fantastic event.
 
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