On 8/26/05, Shel Belinkoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Joe ... > > No. Not when shooting in a color mode. Godfrey is correct in suggesting > that the best way to "shoot" B&W on a digital camera that doesn't offer a > B&W mode is to make the corrections in post processing. The problem with > using post processing techniques is that the results don't follow the way > real B&W film behaves, so colors and tonality are conbverted arbitrarily, > IOW, how you want them to look not necessarily the way B&W film would > record them. That, in and of itself, is not a bad thing, depending on the > result you want. However, it requires that you become familiar with a > number of techniques so you can decide which will provide the results you > desire. [...]
That's actually a *great* thing! It just gives you the flexibility to do whatever you want. Why limit yourself to the "triX" look when you don't have to? I usually start my conversions with a channel mixer step that does as close to triX as possible (25-35-40 I think, though I', not sure). But often I change those parameters to "filter" the image in the way I want. My photoblog image from today: http://www.jbuhler.com/photoblog/index.php?showimage=215 is an example: the backgroud was bluish, and I wanted the bananas to be the center of attention. So I set the channels to something involving a negative value for blue (I think it was 55,55,-10). This made the background darker, and the bananas lighter, minimizing the amount of burning I had to do later. I'm not submitting that pic as an specially good example of a conversion, btw... Cheers, j > > There's a great - if somewhat spendy - plug-in available from the Imaging > Factory that gives a great deal of control and which emulates a number of > B&W emulsions and a variety of contrast filters very easily and simply. > I've used it a few times and hvae been very happy with the results. A few > people on the list were also impressed with the results. You might want to > take a look and give the 30 day free trial a spin. It's a small download, > too. > > http://www.theimagingfactory.com/download/ > > Choose whatever your OS is, and then download Pro Tools / ConvertToB&WPro > > Finally, from what I've seen using three different digi cameras, even if > you're shooting in B&W mode, the filters don't seem to work quite the same > as when shooting film. > > Shel > > > > [Original Message] > > From: Joseph Tainter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <[email protected]> > > Date: 8/25/2005 6:49:28 PM > > Subject: B&W On A DSLR > > > > Let's say you shoot on a Pentax DSLR, with the intention at the start of > > converting the image to grayscale. You shoot with a red or yellow or > > green filter, with the final B&W image in mind. One shoots in Raw. After > > converting to TIFF, then converting to grayscale, will the effect of, > > say, a red filter still be present in the image? Or will the white > > balance just correct for it at the time the image is shot? > > > > If the answer is that the effect of the filter will be corrected by > > white balance, then much of my interest in ever doing digital B&W > > photography disappears. > > > > Joe > > > -- Juan Buhler http://www.jbuhler.com photoblog at http://photoblog.jbuhler.com
