Convert Colour to B+W

[Shooter_1]

What do you guyz use to convert colour shots to B+W?
Do you shoot B+W?on camera?

I have the std comes with camera software,Digital Photo professional + ZoomBrowser EX,I cant find B+W conversion on either of them.

I'v been trying to focus on the camera shooting side of things and puting off diving into the PP side which I know well create some(lots)of frustration.I know that PP is a huge part of Photography and I believe thats what turns a good shot into a great one.

Cheers Shane

[mesodan]

Using the channel mixer in GIMP (free software) is a good start:
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Color2BW/

There are better ways, but you will need to pay (E.g. PS & Nik Silver Efex).

[Lia]

Hi Shane,
I don't shoot in black and white much because i like to have the option to bring back colour or desaturate or whatever at will. I use photoshop to convert to black and white. If you don't have a program that works like that you could try using picasa it's a free photo editing program , basic but fun for playing around with. http://picasa.google.com/

[Ashley Daws]

I use the Channel mixer in Photoshop as I like to control the bw process, sometimes I use masks and use several different channels to get the result I'm after (but it's very rare I do that).

[Shooter_1]

Thanks for your imput,I DL Gimp 2(dodge name)

With Greyscale conversion only no other adjustments


zz by Clarkies_Pics, on Flickr

I made some tweaks in ZoomBrouser but something went wrongI could post it in the random image blends thread


Plates B+W by Clarkies_Pics, on Flickr

[stic]

Nice shot...

I see this on your flickr too:




...SNAP...

[Jdr-Photo]

try to use lightroom 4.

[Shooter_1]

try to use lightroom 4.

Been looking at LR4 specs,Looks like it covers all the basic stuff,would you say its good all round software package?looks like its about $190au if its downloaded.
Looks to be quite a few tutorials on the web also.

[rjd]

Lightroom is great if you get along with it, download the 30 day trial and give it a serious go.

[Shooter_1]

Lightroom is great if you get along with it, download the 30 day trial and give it a serious go.

I tryed a few times to download trial which brought up the buy link,maybe I'll try another site.

Is it not easy to use?IYO

[rjd]

Its easy to use if you work with its process flow.

[pearlyred]

Its easy to use if you work with its process flow.

I use it, so it can't be that hard

I like that it's all in one.. I can very easily import my RAW's from SD cards, adjust white balance etc and then export to web or whatever I want to do. I like how it catalogues everything, and you can create custom collections to easily find everything, along with tagging, starring, flagging images which all makes finding/sorting/filtering easy.

Once you get used to it, there's a few more advanced options, plus the third party plugins and actions which are very easy to use. I only have Lightroom 3, but I like it a lot.

[Jdr-Photo]

Been looking at LR4 specs,Looks like it covers all the basic stuff,would you say its good all round software package?looks like its about $190au if its downloaded.
Looks to be quite a few tutorials on the web also.

as they said try the trial first then check if you can work with it.

lots of tutorial on web (slrlounge.com)

thats what i did.

[stic]

Thanks for your imput,I DL Gimp 2(dodge name)

With Greyscale conversion only no other adjustments


zz by Clarkies_Pics, on Flickr

Slightly different edit using Adjustment/Black & White in Photoshop...

[IAMTrish]

How did you get the car so bright and the background so dull? Did you use a filter or is this an edit using photoshop etc?

[stic]

If you mean my shot, i just clear cut the car out and made a new layer, then desaturated the background...in PS.

[IAMTrish]

Stic, yes it was in regards to your post. Thank you for your reply

[mesodan]

How to ruin a photo in 15 minutes:
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Selective...g-in-Photoshop

[stic]

How to ruin a photo in 15 minutes:
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Selective...g-in-Photoshop

Oh, i like this...

So, by the same logic, when a photographer sets his or her camera to shoot Black and white (despite being in a colour environment) they are, in effect using B&W to ruin a photo...

Good to know...

[Jos]

My favourite way to convert to b&w is to add a black and white gradient map and adjust with a curve. Very close to the real thing in my 30+ years of b&w darkrooming.