Shooting for B & W

[hjsesq]

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Just bought a M8 and would like to know - for B & W, is it better to shoot in color and convert in PS or shoot in B & W initially. Up to now have been shooting in color with a DLSR and converting.

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[Laki]

hi harris and welcome,

 

as for me, till now (and also on my nikon dslrs) i always use the raw of the cameras and convert in ps to b/w.

[sm23221]

I find that the B&W JPEG's look extremely nice straight out of the camera. Don't waste your time converting them, you won't gain anything. If you need to enhance them then a minimal use of curves does the trick. For color, I will only use RAW. BTW, don't use your IR/UV filter if you're only shooting B&W because IR adds to the tonalities. I hope that helps.

[xrogers]

I agree that the B&W jpgs are excellent. Still, use DNG for added dynamic range (you can recover a stop or so of blown highlights) and lack of artifacts in fine detail areas. B&W from M8 DNG files is unbeatable, in my opinion.

 

But if you are happier with the simplicity of a jpg workflow, go ahead and use it, and don't apologize to me or anyone else.

 

--clyde

[rwfreund]

I find that the B&W JPEG's look extremely nice straight out of the camera. Don't waste your time converting them, you won't gain anything. If you need to enhance them then a minimal use of curves does the trick. For color, I will only use RAW. BTW, don't use your IR/UV filter if you're only shooting B&W because IR adds to the tonalities. I hope that helps.

 

...but the IR filter improves apparent sharpness at the boundary between areas that have low IR reflectance and those areas that have high ir reflectance. The lenses don't focus longer wavelengths on to the same plane at a given focus setting.

-bob

[etienne_werner]

Hi,

I would definately use Raw. Convert the colour to B&W using the Channel Mixer in photoShop. This way you gain a lot more control over your image.

If you wish to have a look, I have posted a B&W picture done this way:

http://www.leica-camera-user.com/digital-forum/20518-m8-studio.html

Kind regards,

Etienne

[woodyspedden]

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I use raw exclusively and convert to B&W in Lightroom 1.0. Best B&W conversions I have yet seen.

 

Woody

[hjsesq]

Thanks for all your imput - it follows what I have been doing. And Etienne, the shots of your ex were great - terrific example of what can be done on a conversion. BTW, hope I am not violating any forum rules but just wanted to say that if anyone is interested in horse racing, I recently published a book of photos on life behind the scenes at a track. Take a look at A Backstretch Journey by Harris J. Sklar. Shots were taken with a DSLR before the D8 came out.

Harris

[etienne_werner]

Hi,

Just had a look at the web-site of your book. Very nice photography and by-the-way a very nice web-site.

kind regards,

Etienne

[fjmcsu]

PSCS3 has several B & W conversions . I like the ACR/RAW conversion which is similar to the Lightroom version under the H tab where there is a convert to greyscale box & subsequent slider for various filtering effects.Beside the mentioned channel mixer, calcualtrions, H/S layer techniques there is also a new adjustment B & W layer.

[fastdap@mac.com]

Shoot both! The M8 has the provision to write both a RAW image and a B&W JPEG at the same time.

mark

[gurtch]

I shoot the M8 in RAW. I convert using Convert to B&W Pro. Recently I did this, and chose "Tri-X" and Orange filter as the "look" I wanted, as that is how I shot a lot of my B&W seascapes. I also gave a very light sepia look using that program. I then used PK Sharpener Capture Sharpener, and Output Ink Jet Sharpener. I enlarged the image to 16"x24" using Alien Skin "Blowup", and added grain using "Exposure", also by Alien Skin. The framed and matted B&W is hanging in a local Restraunt that has 70 of my pieces hanging. The print is every bit as good , quality wise, as anything I ever did with B&W film and my own darkroom. The image is here:

http://www.modernpictorials.com/D227A%2072dpi%20.jpg

Regards

Dave