Black and White with a Digital SLR

exactiv

Hi.

I just bought my first dSLR, a Nikkon D50 YEAY!

I want to take photos in B&W. I heard from somone (can't remember who) that putting a red filter on the camera would be way better than using the camera's native B&W mode. Apparantly it should give much clearer results. Is this true?

Any help or tips would be great.

Thanks,

Ex.

rymus

why limit yourself by shooting in b&w when you can shoot in colour and photoshop it to b&w the way you want it.

exactiv

would I not get better results using the filter instead of "faking" it with photoshop?

peepingtom

agreed, im pretty new to photography myself, but i would suggest doing it the way rymus suggested. Even though you can take a shot and in your mind you have it in B&W, you never quite know until you see the image in front of you. Some shots look great in B&W, and some not so great.

You can do it in photoshop a couple of ways i have found.

1. By changing the mode to grayscale,
2. De-saturating the image (slightly different outcome)

Then you can play with the contrast and brightness etc.

If you dont have, or cant afford the full photoshop cs package, you can get photoshop elements for around 100 euros i beleive.

peepingtom

exactiv wrote:

would I not get better results using the filter instead of "faking" it with photoshop?

would you not be faking it by using a filter?

after all you dont see the world in B&W do you?

processing your photos using photoshop is no different from they way you choose the type of film you use, or the way you process them in a dark room.

Although some purists may disagree ..... it seems to be an ongoing argument that, at the end of the day, comes down to personal preference

dalk

You can get the red filter effect in digital photography by using the Channel mixer in Photoshop, so just shoot in colour as mentioned, and desaturate and mess with channel levels...

As regards the 'fake' issue. The digital cameras black and white modes are as 'fake' as using photoshop, because both start off with a colour image and then desaturate.

To be pedantic, if you want 'real' black and white you will have to shoot on black and white film or buy the sole black and white only digital camera that kodak (i think?) made a while back.

Dundhoone

Also you area bit limited in that the D50 doesnt have a native B&W mode.......
So its photoshop ahoy

exactiv

Dundhoone wrote:

Also you area bit limited in that the D50 doesnt have a native B&W mode.......
So its photoshop ahoy

Ahh. well in that case...

In relation to whether using a red filter is faking it, well, yes it is. But it's faking it optically rather than digitally. I don't know if it is any better, or produces better results, but as you say, it's all down to personal preference.

Thanks for all the replies as well by the way

Photoshop here I come....

Dimy

I think the result in photoshop will be better as you can adjust the RBG level's as you like, while using a red filter you're stuck with that specific filter. There's plenty of B&W conversion tutorials and photoshop plug-ins available to make B&W conversion easier. Good luck.

dalk

exactiv wrote:

In relation to whether using a red filter is faking it, well, yes it is. But it's faking it optically rather than digitally.

I still shoot some black and white film. You dont have to use filters with black and white. I've used a (dark) red filter maybe three or four times mostly messing messing with infra-red film, or if you are trying for a dramatic darkening blue skies. I find a yellow filter is more usefull for general black and white usage (bit of extra contrast) but then don't use one much either. Usually don't have anything on the lens including UV...

Polarising filter is probably the most usefull filter, imo, and adds something to a pic that isnt easily done with photoshop, unlike red filter effect in black and white.

joolsveer

I think that putting a red filter over the lens of a digital camera is going to give a colour snap with a red cast. It has a different effect on monochrome fim.

Valentia

A red filter is used with B&W because of the film's different sensitivities to different colours. I can't remember the exact details. Putting a red filter over colour film or a digital camera will not have the same effect. It will just give a red cast.

Shrimp

exactiv wrote:

I want to take photos in B&W.

You're already limiting yourself to taking B&W photos before even knowing what your subjects are going to be.

Good work!

melekalikimaka

http://www.photo.net/equipment/digital/editing/bwconvert/

and also

http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/phs8bwconversion.pdf