Hoya Posted August 13, 2011 Share #1 Posted August 13, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) I have just begun working for the first time with a Leica, a DLUX-5. What a pleasure. I have been experimenting with the camera's native B&W settings as well as PP conversion from color to B&W using Lightroom (LR) with Silver Efex Pro plugin. I find I can get positive results both ways, but am not experienced enough to know the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Is there a reason to use the native B&W settings rather than relying on PP? Seems to me native B&W allows immediate review of results, while shooting in color gives one the option of keeping color or creating a PP B&W image. Does the Leica camera B&W processing software create a "truer" BW image than I'll get via LR and Silver Efex? Thanks in advance for your advice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 Hi Hoya, Take a look here Native B&W vs. post processing B&W. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jippiejee Posted August 13, 2011 Share #2 Posted August 13, 2011 The good thing of b&w processing in post is that you can use the color filters of Lightroom to emphasize your subject. Imagine someone dressed in red sitting on a green lawn. Your in-camera b&w might show that as gray on gray, whereas your post-processed b&w photo could show your subject as dark on light, or light on dark depending on your filter choices. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jase Posted August 13, 2011 Share #3 Posted August 13, 2011 The advantages of using Lightroom or Silver Efex Pro should be pretty obvious. The in camera b&w settings will be very limited and applied uniformly to the whole image; in Lightroom and SFX they are unlimited and may be varied locally. Additionally a lot of settings such as 'Clarity' in Lightroom which in SFX would be described as structure are just not available in camera. In camera B&W isn't really native, it is the manufacturers interpretation of how much luminance to associate with the rgb pixels and although it may be the most representative of 'reality' isn't necessarily what you really want. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoya Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share #4 Posted August 14, 2011 Excellent points, thank you both. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marquinius Posted August 14, 2011 Share #5 Posted August 14, 2011 You're diving head first into the rather extended discussion about post processing, RAW format and whatnot. Just so you know Whatever: in the end it's about what you want to achieve. On screen, come and go, impressionist ... go with what the camera's offering. You're about speedy uploads and quick impressions. Printed on A2, with people looking at it a little longer, perhaps someone with a tad of knowledge about tonality, contrast ... go for pot processing in LR/CS/whatever tool that suits you. Just a thought: ANYONE who says making a beautiful photo is EASY, is misinformed at best and perhaps a tad lazy on the side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwolf Posted August 16, 2011 Share #6 Posted August 16, 2011 Hoya, The real value of shooting color for BW images, as said above, is the ability to modify gray tones using color channels. You can do so in LR and Silver Efex. In film days color filters were integral to shooting BW. Today we have channels, with vastly more capability. I suggest you play around with channels in both products. Their use and power in BW processing will be immediately evident. Incidentally, most cameras allow you to display a BW image on the LCD, while shooting in RAW, so you can get closer to a BW workflow. I don't know your camera, but it's worth exploring. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblitz Posted August 16, 2011 Share #7 Posted August 16, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) when i was shooting with my dlux4 i would shoot jpg+raw and set the camera to shoot one of the b&w modes available. when you drop the files into lightroom or whatever you will get a b&w jpg and a funny colored raw photo. funny colored because the computer in the camera is doing what others here are saying -- shift the color levers to change how the b&w renders blue vs green vs yellow vs red etc etc etc ..... my suggestion is to shoot as i did, you end up with a quick and actually very good b&w file plus a color raw file from which to entertain yourself on the computer to discover just how many different b&w photos are possible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoya Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share #8 Posted August 18, 2011 Hoya, The real value of shooting color for BW images, as said above, is the ability to modify gray tones using color channels. You can do so in LR and Silver Efex. In film days color filters were integral to shooting BW. Today we have channels, with vastly more capability. I suggest you play around with channels in both products. Their use and power in BW processing will be immediately evident. Incidentally, most cameras allow you to display a BW image on the LCD, while shooting in RAW, so you can get closer to a BW workflow. I don't know your camera, but it's worth exploring. John Thanks, this is very helpful. Far removed from the darkroom repetitions coaxing images out of my Canon AE-1 Program. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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