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Artistic Questions

Your Approach to Black & White

Discuss style and artistic aspects of photography
sloaner
 
Posts: 29

Your Approach to Black & White

Post Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:15 pm


Since I have switched from film to digital I have to rethink my approach to black and white (I prefer b&w). I just learned about HDR and am wondering if and how people on this site use it for b&w. The main question is do you shoot different if you know you are going to turn it into a b&w image or do you shoot the same as color and then work on it in the computer.
Things like darkening the sky or lightening foliage like in the good old days is why I ask. Do you do this kind of thing in the camera or computer. Using a polerizing filter comes to mind.
The software I am going to use is Paint Shop Pro X2. I like the "b&w filters" part of it, the "infrared" effect and the "Time Machine" effect (you can give your image a really old look here). It also does HDR.
Here is an example. Say you are shooting a scene that has big puffy clouds and bright blue sky, do you shoot one way for color and another so you can darken the sky and bring out the detail in the clouds?
Thanks for all your help.
sloaner

sheila
 
Posts: 1303


Post Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:31 am


I shoot colour and then revert to monochrome using either PS CS2 or various filters. It does help to use a polarising filter when you get a good cloud formation

http://www.pbase.com/sheila/image/82940995

Here is the same shot reverting to mono

http://www.pbase.com/sheila/image/82950172

I think I used the freebie Optikvervlabs filter to also bring the clouds.

I have a gallery dedicated to mono http://www.pbase.com/sheila/bw

Cheers
Sheila
Sheila Smart
Canon 5D Mark III; 17-40L; 24-70 f/2.8L; 70-300 f.4-5.6 L USM; 135 f/2L; 100 f/2.8 macro; 8-15 f/4 L fisheye

Blog: http://sheilasmartphotography.blogspot.com/

jypsee
 
Posts: 1247

I think seriously about the contrast in the photo

Post Sun Mar 16, 2008 5:02 pm


and photograph color in RAW. I overexpose enough to get a decent contrast but not blow the highlights. A spot meter helps with this. In post I convert the file in various ways, sometimes using the resident software for my Canon, or with PSCS channel mixer, or some actions I find useful. It just depends on what I want the photo to look like. Sometimes I do two versions of the photo in post and stitch the layers to make a photo that I "saw" when I looked through the viewfinder.
This photo started out as a color photo with two versions processed for the foreground and the background and then later I converted it with channel mixer in PSCS
http://www.pbase.com/jypsee/image/37516158
here's the color version
http://www.pbase.com/jypsee/image/47290821

here's an all stitched photo that I saw in my head; it's various photos layered and stitched/painted in photoshop
http://www.pbase.com/jypsee/image/71093529

Here's a photo made in color and converted using only the software that came with my camera
http://www.pbase.com/jypsee/image/94238556

I also use lots of filters, especially here in Florida where the sun is much brighter than in the north (USA). I often use a ND grad on clouds to keep them information rich. If I can use a polarizer for the whole scene, then I use that. A polarizer affects the sky in ways that may or may not contribute to what I want in the photo; and it's important to keep the polarizer located at a ninety degree angle to the sun and to remember that if you plan to stitch a pano with your photos that the polarizer will affect your sky as you move across the horizon.
Well placed polarizer
http://www.pbase.com/image/43264522
poorly stitched pano illustrating the polarizer problem
http://www.pbase.com/jypsee/image/47863184/large
sometimes you just do it anyway to get the scene and let the viewer sort out the issues...

My decisions are mostly driven by what I want the photo to look like; I have a photo in my head before I lift the camera from my bag. Here's a photo I made in the brutal mid day sun. I wanted to retain the clouds and keep the foreground properly exposed. It took a polarizer for the clouds and a ND grad for the foreground to keep all the elements properly exposed.
http://www.pbase.com/jypsee/image/87750786

a favorite filter of mine is a Singh-Ray blue and gold polarizer; here's a photo that, though not BW, shows the potential for keeping everything exposed in a way that I had in my mind
http://www.pbase.com/jypsee/image/75174491
more examples of the Singh-Ray BG polarizer and how it can make the photo useful for BW
http://www.pbase.com/jypsee/image/63723574

Mainly, use color and RAW as your starting point and go from there. It's all a matter of what you see and how you want to get it for the final photograph. Experimenting helps you learn a whole lot.

prinothcat
 
Posts: 662


Post Sun Mar 16, 2008 5:30 pm


I'm still doing it the old fashioned way, film, filters and chemistry...... I just do not want to *&% around with B&W in Pshop, It's more challenging (to me) to get it right on film. I hate (so far) the images I get in digital, even shooting native B&W. Plus to me the qualities of the various films I hoard are half the fun.

jdepould
 
Posts: 540


Post Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:59 pm


Creatively, there are more possibilities shooting full color in digital, then converting to BW in post, because you have a lot more information.
Nikon D300, D200
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D, 55mm f/1.4 micro, 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G DX, 80-200 f/2.8D
Apple PowerBook G4, MacBook Pro
Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop CS3

sloaner
 
Posts: 29


Post Sun Mar 16, 2008 11:25 pm


Thanks so far for all the replies and help. I really like this site, so many great examples and opinions. Hopefully tommorrow I will be able to get started on working with HDR (have to go out and bracket some images) and go through the replies thoroughly. It's a new dawn for my photography and I can hardly wait to get it rolling.
sloaner

mahowel
 
Posts: 1018

Re: Your Approach to Black & White

Post Mon May 19, 2008 12:56 am


I like to shoot in B&W instead of converting. I have red, yellow, blue, green, etc. filters and use them often. If you are shooting B&W you are looking for form and design instead of color contrast which is always distracting to me. One thing for sure IMO you can not get as deep of a B&W image with digital as you can with film unless you use a infared filter and have perfect light. I haven't posted as many photos lately because I have been so busy but here is one shot in B&W, with no internal filters, and with a circular polarizer from a week or so ago.
http://www.pbase.com/mahowel/image/97196459
and another with a red external filter (I don't care much for the internal Canon filters)
http://www.pbase.com/mahowel/image/97203431

ir_robbie
 
Posts: 1

Re: Your Approach to Black & White

Post Tue May 20, 2008 2:43 pm


I shoot only infrared except for Wildlife when I shoot Ir and visible light.For strong dramatic clouds I use -ev compensation to control the clouds from been blown out.I stitch a lot because with a 6MP D70 the files aren`t big enough.Always bracket your exposures and shoot in Raw with a circular polariser.[ND filter is recommended too]If I am going to shoot for B&W I go for stronger tones and colors than normal.Opening in Capture One 4 and then CS2 via Lab Color for added contrast.Try highlight/shadow and exposure filters for fine tuning.
This is my B&W gallery

http://www.pbase.com/ir_robbie/bw_ir

madlights
 
Posts: 914

Re: Your Approach to Black & White

Post Thu May 22, 2008 11:47 pm


My non-DSLR takes pics in RAW that are color(so can be converted), but my EVF (which is pretty good) shows them in BW, if I have the camera set up like that. I've monkeyed around with a red glass filter, but it costs a couple of stops, I've found a polarizer does help with skies...especially partly cloudy ones. Even if darkening in Photoshop etc. it still gives a good start. I sort of use a combination of... There's all kinds of stuff you can do in editors, if you look on the net you can even find real film grain files, or make your own and paste them in as an overlay if you want. There are a couple of programs out there (some are expensive-some not) that'll give you very close to Tri-x or Tmax. I think Opanda makes a reasonably priced Tmax sim. and Siver Oxide has some plug ins for Photoshop for various sims.

praetoriv
 
Posts: 119

Re: Your Approach to Black & White

Post Sat May 24, 2008 2:09 pm


I shoot in B&W but sometimes I will comeo across a shot in color that I think will work in B&W so I will convert. The D80 has the digital colored filters and contrast set up that work great. I think it comes from shooting B&W film. IF I wanted to shoot color back then I would have put color film in the camera so now I live with my decision. OF course it is really easy to switch so I am rarley disappointed.

Here is my token shot. Out of the camera with a little lightening on the sand
http://www.pbase.com/praetoriv/image/90227355

I have been getting better at the "printing" process in CS2. As we all learned to dodge and burn in B&W I am geting better at that technique.
Patrick Mitchell
I have discovered photography. Now I can kill myself. I have nothing else to learn. -Pablo Picasso


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