How to shoot black and white UPDATE

SpikeK6

SpikeK6

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Hi

A woman I know has asked me to take some photo's of her for her new buisness, she has seen some in another shop that are B&W and wondered if I could do the same sort of pic but for her buisness. The two buisnesses are not conected in any way, one is a cafe and hers is a sports remedial massage buisness.

She wants working shots of her on one of her students etc but in B&W, now I have never shot B&W and only ever converted a colour pic to B&W once.

so what is the best way to shoot B&W, is it to shoot B&W in camera or convert them from colour once taken??

These will be blown up to a large size, some will be used on her web page and some for her leaflets, promotional hand outs etc etc.

Thanks

spike
 
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Shoot in colour and convert afterwards, but keeping the colour originals, she might like them better anyway.
 
garry71 said:
Shoot in colour and convert afterwards, but keeping the colour originals, she might like them better anyway.
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Yes - definately so. Shoot in B&W and you cannot change to colour afterwards.
 
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Ok thanks for that.

Next question is there anything to do differentlywhen PP to convert, should I PP in colour then change or change then PP.

Thanks again

spike
 
Johnd2000 said:
You can if you shoot RAW.
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And don't think that a simple desaturation gives you a b&w image. Creating a quality b&w print requires as much care as a colour one, if not a bit more.
 
Shoot raw, process afterwards. What Phil says is right, a good B&W conversion tales a lot of skill and practice
 
Thanks guys
I always shoot RAW anyways, so from what I can gather out of all the coments is this

I shoot colour then convert to B&W then process?? Oh and take my time over it becaus eit is alot more difficult.

I think this is where I might just come unstuck, never had to process B&W before, so i had better get practicing

spike
 
Phil V said:
And don't think that a simple desaturation gives you a b&w image. Creating a quality b&w print requires as much care as a colour one, if not a bit more.
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+1

Remember also that not all images lend themselves to mono. Mono is all about contrast and shapes, so ensure that your shots have plenty of these two ingredients in order to work.
 
When I convert to B&W it all depends on the photo and what I want to get from it. A light low contrast B&W or a punchy high contrast image.

I just have a play with the RAW file and make minor adjustments until I get something I'm happy with. Just about every slider can make a big change in B&W.
 
Thanks for all the very helpful and informative information.

Keep it coming

spike
 
FWIW there's a supplement on Black & White photography in this week's Amateur Photographer.
 
If you shoot rAW anyway then I'd say shoot in black and white mode at the time, that way you get a b&w preview and you might get a better idea for what's working and what isn't.
 
Decided I am going to do some set up shots at the surgery that way I get the light and everything as it will be on the day sort of. She knows this is just a hobby for me, and if she gets some shots she can use great if not well she understands. I am looking forward to the challenge, lifegets boring without them.

Spike
 
xanaduflipper said:
I always shoot in colour then convert to B&W afterwards.

As the camera doesn't know how to cope with black or white as they aren't 'colours', if you use a B&W setting what you tend to get is lots of grey!
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My point was it doesn't matter whether you choose a B&W preset if you shoot raw. You get a B&W file to quickly review on camera, but all the colour information is still there for you to treat as you wish in PP.
 
I bought a magazine not long ago called "master monochrome" I'm sure it's still available from smiths.
 
It's ok as a start, but usually I find there's some dodge and burn required in areas.
 
I have PSE8 so will be converting in there.

I will go into town on saturday and have a look for them Mags, after reading on here I am going to need all the help I can get.

Thanks

spike
 
UPDATE

I am really struggleing now, I went along to the surgery and took a few pics just to get a feel for the place and to see what settings I could use on the day she gets some models(students) in for her to work on as I take pics.

She wants working pics, i.e her working on a patient, she does not really want hands on knee/shoulder shots, but the problem I have is the room is so bland.
All the walls are magnolia painted the ceiling is white, the blind covering the window is magnolia in colour too, she has a couple of pics on the wall which show all the muscle groups etc but again on a white background, there is just no contrast in the pics especially when I convert them into B&W.

Can anyone suggest some solutions to all this as I am struggling. Like I said this is my first time doing this sort of picutre, she has cured my 10 year back problem that no one else could and I would really like this to work, for her.
My PP skills are not that good but good enough to adjust levels an such but apart from that rubbish.
This is what I am faced with as the room. Any ideas???

8.jpg


Thanks

spike
 
Use a high powered flash to bounce and improve contrast.

Then convert the raw to grayscale and in Photoshop and elements you can adjust each "colour" in the greyscale image separately and vastly improve contrast that way.
 
As they have said shoot RAW the proccess, and again as desaturation will not make a great B&W.

Canonn DPP and Apple Apeture both have B&W presets **** allow convertion with diffrene colur filters (I would think most software has the same thing)
 
Change your picture style in camera to B&W and then shoot RAW. You'll see your previews in B&W but your RAW will retain all the colour info so you can adjust the conversion when you import into Lightroom/Photoshop. I find this helps with 'seeing' in B&W. As for advice on what to shoot, look at the tonal relationships between objects - for example a light subject will stand out against a dark background. Texture also plays a big role in B&W.
 
Don't take any photos of the room if its that bland.

Fill the frame with her working on the patient. Close ups of hands on bodies etc. This way the room will simply be in the background and not an issue!
 
Harvey_nikon said:
Don't take any photos of the room if its that bland.

Fill the frame with her working on the patient. Close ups of hands on bodies etc. This way the room will simply be in the background and not an issue!
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Absolutely right. Having worked all my life in a clinical environment I know it doesn't make the best setting for photography.

The clinician/patient relationship is the important one.
 
This could be a relevant quote from David Hobby's latest blog post..
Arnold Newman, the father of environmental portrait photography, said it best when he noted that environmental portraiture is 10% photography and 90% moving furniture.
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Anyway, I'd strongly recommend looking through the Assignment section of the Stobist blog. Not necessarily for the lighting set-ups, but for the thought processes that go into each shot.

I agree that here you're almost certainly going to have to get some close-ups. But in any situation it's always worth trying two or three different styles of shot before you pack up for the day. So try the room shot, and then move in close. At least with black and white you're saved having to try and balance the colour for flash bounced off the magnolia walls..

Given the room is so bland, I'd try to reduce the ambient so that you can get creative with some strobes.
 
I was bouncing the flash off the ceiling. I think from what i have read on here it is going to have to be close up shots, I tried to tell her this while there but I think ince she ses the converted pics it will hammer home what I am saying.
Thanks again for all your answers I will meet with her again and discuss all this and will let you all knowe how i get on. I will take plant pics some in camera B&W and some colour, I always shoot raw so that aint a problem

spike
 
I've been converting in Topaz b&w Efex for a couple of weeks now and it gives you an amazing amount of control over how an image turns out. Might be worth investing in the download as its only $59.99 at the moment.

Andy
 
Andysnap said:
I've been converting in Topaz b&w Efex for a couple of weeks now and it gives you an amazing amount of control over how an image turns out. Might be worth investing in the download as its only $59.99 at the moment.

Andy
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Is Topaz a plug-in for photoshop or a stand-alone program ?
I heard about it a few days ago, meant to look further into it but have not done so yet...
 
stevewestern said:
Is Topaz a plug-in for photoshop or a stand-alone program ?
I heard about it a few days ago, meant to look further into it but have not done so yet...
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It's plug-in, I've just installed the trial version and had a quick look in Lightroom.
Seems quite good but I'll need to give it a more complete evaluation before I buy.

grum said:
Silver Efex Pro is very nice for B+W conversions too.
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Silver Efex Pro is excellent but so it should be for $200.
 
Thanks again for all the comments.
I am going to see what she says when i show her what we have so far and see if I can just do bit shots of body parts as opposed to full room body shots.

i will spend money if i have to but seeing as this is more of a thank you and not a paid shoot or doubt ill ever do it again type thing then i will wait and see what happens.

Thanks again for all your help on this matter. I will let you all know how it turns out.

spike
 
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