Shoot in B/W or process to B/W?

[trevorus]

Which do you prefer to do? I like both for different reasons, and you can process already B&W to interesting effect, but obviously for partially colorized shots are easier to shoot in color, adjust, and desaturate what you want to have lose color. Example:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__4dN6-aaTZc/Sy1l2Awwx4I/AAAAAAAADr8/o-BVvmDuhto/s576/GracieBlueEye.jpg

Shot in color, adjust the hue and saturation, light/shadow and then desaturated all but the iris, then further processed to make the blue pop a little more.

[canonloader]

Shot in color, adjust the hue and saturation, light/shadow then further processed to make the blue pop a little more. And then desaturate all of the image, and then use the History Brush on just the eye.

[trevorus]

That's another approach I've not used yet. I tend to use quick mask a lot for this sort of thing.

[canonloader]

The history brush technique just takes a lot less time is all. :)

[gregpphoto]

Personally, I always shoot in color. Much easier to make it black and white later than to add color to a black and white.

[chillyh]

Is that the general consensus, i.e. shoot in colour and then post-process to B&W? It does seem easier to me too, but I was just curious as to whether there is any advantage to shooting in B&W...

[gregpphoto]

Is that the general consensus, i.e. shoot in colour and then post-process to B&W? It does seem easier to me too, but I was just curious as to whether there is any advantage to shooting in B&W...

As far as I know, theres no advantage with digital because you can do in photoshop or similar program exactly what the camera does when you shoot in BW mode.

[banpreso]

definately shoot in color, and i can boost/ subtract each color during the b&w conversion

[Stirfried]

Definitely shoot in color. Pros shooting B&W film might use a colour filter on the lens (and or lights) to get the right balance they want. Much easier to do in post and as people have said, you don't lose anything since you can exactly repeat the in-camera processing if you with to anyway.

[mattia]

I shoot in colour (RAW) but normally shoot small JPG alongside (in Canon's standard B/W) to help me visualise the scene.

[mjHession]

I shoot in colour (RAW) but normally shoot small JPG alongside (in Canon's standard B/W) to help me visualise the scene.

This is a good idea, I usually just shoot color, but I'll consider this next time, though I'm not sure if I have this option with my XS, I know I can RAW + JPG, but not sure about color RAW + B/W JPG... I'll have to look into it. Nice Idea tho, perhaps one to keep on the backburner for when I upgrade my Body.

[Pyromaniac]

I shoot everything in color and then convert to B&W in post.

[Mark1]

There is no control over luminance, or saturation, or anything when shooting in B&W. However if you shoot in color you can control everything in the image all the way through the process. Bad example... shoot a lil girl with a yellow ribbon in her hair. When shot in B&W it is the brightest thing in the image. Draws attention away from her. All you can do is burn it down a bit if it is shot in B&W. If shot in color you can change it to anything you want then convert. And yet STILL have control over how it appears in the final image.

Shoot raw + B&W jpeg is a good idea to see how things are on a standard conversion. But NEVER make B&W the only way you shoot it. If not for only the reason that you may change your mind later.

[wphantom]

Shooting in color is the way to go for flexibility and quality.

Shoot in raw and then you get full control in the B&W transformation (color mixing, contrast). The desaturate approach is not the best one IMHO because you dont really perfectly control the the grey levels and contrasts between areas with different colors.

[anj273]

Am I missing something here? Does it even matter, what you set your camera up for, when you shoot in RAW? It retains all the colour information as well...

Might be different on Canon. Haven't had a chance to try out my first Canon yet (50 mm 1.4 arrives tomorrow, can't wait) but while I've been shooting Oly, even setting the camera to shoot RAW B&W, the images would all revert to colour, once I imported them through Lightroom...

[gregpphoto]

Am I missing something here? Does it even matter, what you set your camera up for, when you shoot in RAW? It retains all the colour information as well...

Might be different on Canon. Haven't had a chance to try out my first Canon yet (50 mm 1.4 arrives tomorrow, can't wait) but while I've been shooting Oly, even setting the camera to shoot RAW B&W, the images would all revert to colour, once I imported them through Lightroom...

It's the same with Canon.

[Mark1]

Raw - no
Jpeg - yes

[ChrisSearle]

Digital is great, it gives you so much flexibility. HOWEVER, too much flexibility can be a bad thing for creativity. Try restricting yourself to B&W and then see how much extra concentration and focus it brings to the act of composition.

[Pita_146]

This is a good idea, I usually just shoot color, but I'll consider this next time, though I'm not sure if I have this option with my XS, I know I can RAW + JPG, but not sure about color RAW + B/W JPG... I'll have to look into it. Nice Idea tho, perhaps one to keep on the backburner for when I upgrade my Body.

If you set it to JPG+RAW and B/W it will automatically shoot the JPG in B/W and the RAW will always be in full color. :)

[blackwhitephotos]

Shoot in color RAW and then convert to black and white, use "Shadow/Highlight" tool in Photoshop.

[Dr Gonzo]

Which do you prefer to do? I like both for different reasons, and you can process already B&W to interesting effect, but obviously for partially colorized shots are easier to shoot in color, adjust, and desaturate what you want to have lose color.

The best result in my experience:

1. Shoot in RAW
2. open the picture in DPP
3. set to picture style "Monochrome"
4. export to Photoshop


This is a much better result than open the RAW direct in Photoshop and set it to greyscale or desaturate.
Try it yourself.

Greets

[Brikwall]

The only time I don't shoot my black and white's in colour is when I'm shooting black and white film... ;)

[TCOMC]

The best result in my experience:

1. Shoot in RAW
2. open the picture in DPP
3. set to picture style "Monochrome"
4. export to Photoshop


This is a much better result than open the RAW direct in Photoshop and set it to greyscale or desaturate.
Try it yourself.

Greets

I usually do my B&W conversion in Photoshop because it gives you more conversion options to play with. It has the Black and White tool (similar to ACR's, if not the same thing?) Calculations, Gradient Map along with Grayscale and Desaturate.

Edit: and probably a lot more options that I've yet to find out.

[Stirfried]

Just using the DPP monochrome default is a horrible idea. Different weightings between the color channels are vital for portraits, landscapes...almost everything.
Personally I use SilverFX Pro in CS4.