EMoscosoCam wrote:.

I would like to know the difference between taking a picture in colorand putting it in Black & White by using and image editing softwarevs. taking the picture directly in Black & White..

You have a lot more flexibility if you do it in Photoshop or whatever. That's a deciding factor for most people. Also, you can't shoot B&W in Raw if your camera supports Raw..

Here's what I wrote about the other side: why shoot in-camera B&W JPEGs:http://creativekarma.com/...php/weblog/comments/why_shoot_in_camera_bw_jpegs/..

I read your post, and I have a d80, and just to prove a point I set it to RAW, then set it to B/W, and took a very nice photo, "SO" you can take B/W photos in B/W if you have a D80 and the result is astounding..

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Mike Rudge..

It only looks like you shot that raw image in B&W. In reality, a raw image is never B&W. When you open that image in Nikon Capture though, it reads the meta-data and converts it at that point to B&W. This is the same sort of meta-data as are such settings as in-camera sharpness, Color Mode and the like. They form a list of instructions for the raw converter to apply when converting it on your computer. It's interesting to note too that only Nikon raw converters will honor that B&W instruction. Open the same image in Adobe Camera Raw for instance and it will still be in color!Bob Johnsonhttp://www.earthboundlight.com..

Earthbound Light wrote:.

It only looks like you shot that raw image in B&W. In reality, a rawimage is never B&W. When you open that image in Nikon Capture though,it reads the meta-data and converts it at that point to B&W. This isthe same sort of meta-data as are such settings as in-camerasharpness, Color Mode and the like. They form a list of instructionsfor the raw converter to apply when converting it on your computer.It's interesting to note too that only Nikon raw converters willhonor that B&W instruction. Open the same image in Adobe Camera Rawfor instance and it will still be in color!Bob Johnsonhttp://www.earthboundlight.com.

That there are no digital cameras today that shoot in B&W. Rather, the image is shot in color, and then converted, in camera, to B&W. It may be that there are one or two models I'm not familiar with, but overall, such is the case..

And that BEING the case, I would much rather do my own conversions..

Dave..

What it boils down to is do you want to let some programmer decide how you want to interpret a scene or if you want to make that determination yourself..

If you let the camera (the programmer) decide how to make the B&W conversion you are stuck with it. (Assuming B&W JPGs) By doing the conversion yourself you can get to make the choices on how the final image will look.Chefziggyhttp://www.pbase.com/chefziggy/lecream.

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Shoot color and convert later. You then have the color, if that happens to look better and you can make a better B&W conversion..

I use the channel mixer in PS. My usual favorite is 30 Red, 60 Green, 10 Blue. Also try 22 Red, 72 Green, 6 Blue. It usually is better to let the totals add to 100...

And to add to that, no camera today shoots in jpeg either. They all shoot in raw (that's the only thing the sensor can do) and then convert to jpeg in camera if you so choose. They may not even let you save it as raw, but it still starts out that way.Bob Johnsonhttp://www.earthboundlight.com..

I get the best results in B&W (well, color too) by shooting raw. Using Photoshop CS3 I have the following advantages:.

1. Controls to simulate B&W color filters..

2. A 12-bit image (vs. an 8-bit image for JPEGs) means banding issues are minimal..

For examples, click here:.

Http://epaperpress.com/portfolio/antarctica/..