Shooting in B&W

[Colin W]

If I shoot in B&W do I need to set the camera to B&W or just shoot in colour and change it to B&W in Photoshop?

[Guest]

Re: Shooting in B&W

Personal opinion,I've always shot in colour and RAW,then done the conversion in Lightroom afterwards.I find it gives so much more scope that way.

[Farider]

Re: Shooting in B&W

You can do either. If you set to B/W in the camera that is how the image is recorded and colour information is not recorded so it will forever B/W. If you do the conversion in post processing you have the ability to change it to colour or B/W as you wish. If you use the canon DDP software you can do all the manipulation and setting changes that get on the camera.

[Stan]

Re: Shooting in B&W

If I shoot in B&W do I need to set the camera to B&W or just shoot in colour and change it to B&W in Photoshop?

setting the camera to shoot B & W will only affect the jpeg produced in camera and the RAW file will still contain all the colour information

[Trev B]

Re: Shooting in B&W

Colin, Stan already said what I was going to post

[El Sid]

Re: Shooting in B&W

The only cameras I have set to B&W are the IR ones which I normally process through DPP4 as it seems to do a more consistent job than third party converters. This is also because I mostly shoot raw and only DPP4 will automatically display the image as mono - in other software it comes out weirdly coloured and needs additional post processing to convert to mono.

My non-IR cameras are almost always set to raw and colour and I convert to mono in post where it's possible to exercise far more control. You can for instance apply a red filter effect conversion layer to the sky while applying less intense yellow, green or effect free conversion layer to the foreground.

I have set mono in camera as it can be useful to see the result immediately but I have had accidents doing this and ended up with mono JPEGs I didn't want...

[colin C]

Re: Shooting in B&W

I will go with the majority and advise taking the shot in normal colour RAW. Change it to mono in your RAW converter, or post editing.

I can't see any advantage of using mono at the shooting stage, other than looking at the rear screen and seeing a mono shot, but the disadvantage of forgetting to revert your settings to normal could be annoying, especially if you shoot JPEGS.

Having made a number of mistakes over the years (I call it experience ), I religiously return my camera to my standard settings before it goes back into the camera case. Easy to forget in the heat of the moment, but trying that grab shot of a bird in flight at 10seconds, F16 and ISO100 teaches a valuable lesson.

[Brian Sugden]

Re: Shooting in B&W

Having made a number of mistakes over the years (I call it experience ), I religiously return my camera to my standard settings before it goes back into the camera case. Easy to forget in the heat of the moment, but trying that grab shot of a bird in flight at 10seconds, F16 and ISO100 teaches a valuable lesson.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt (several in fact)! The one I remember most was back in the days of film. Forgot to put a fresh roll of film in the camera at the end of the day. Went out the following morning and found a tri-coloured heron eating a shrimp. After taking loads of shots suddenly realised there was no film in the camera!

Brian

[Trev B]

Re: Shooting in B&W

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt (several in fact)! The one I remember most was back in the days of film. Forgot to put a fresh roll of film in the camera at the end of the day. Went out the following morning and found a tri-coloured heron eating a shrimp. After taking loads of shots suddenly realised there was no film in the camera!

Brian

And I been thinking all these years it was only me that did things like that.

[JanHarper]

Re: Shooting in B&W

I went on one of the EOS Experience B+W courses. We were advised to set in camera B+W and Raw if we wanted to get a colour version; but you could only get all the full settings to convert in DPP. By seeing B+W on the screen, it did not take too long to think in B+W, looking for shadows, textures and contrast instead of the usual red jacket. Plus you can set coloured filters in camera to enhance certain things. What to focus on to get pure blacks etc.
The B+W Walk with Nina was one of my best birthday presents. If I go out to specifically take B+W then I set it in camera.

[El Sid]

Re: Shooting in B&W

And I been thinking all these years it was only me that did things like that.

Sadly no... I too have had problems with the everlasting roll of film...

[Colin W]

Re: Shooting in B&W

Thank you all for your comments!

I will shoot in colour and then convert to b&W.