I've progressed to the point where I'll see the occasional subject and immediately visualize it as a B&W image. My conversion techniques in PS are in their juvenile stages to say the least.

What I'm curious about though, is if any of you have seen any info or have any personal experience with changing your digital image capture (primarily exposure) when you intend to convert to B&W right from the get go.

 

Good timing on this thread. I was just shooting some promo shots for my sister and her friend this weekend. They have a flute and vocal duet and they wanted the shots to be in B&W.

When I'm shooting with the intention of converting to B&W, I always expose to the right. I also make sure that the scenes are as high contrast as possible, so in the case of portraits, I'll ask them to wear light clothing so they don't blend into the background.

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyways, you need to shoot RAW to maximize your dynamic range. Black and white is all about nailing the exposure, so it's great having the leeway that RAW affords.

Here's a quasi-candid from the shoot last weekend:

 

I would say the girl on the left's neck is too hot...and at an odd angle. So between that and the odd shadow being cast by her chin, and she is framed on the edge....it makes her looks like something is wrong with her body.

 

Yes, it's not the most flattering of poses, so that's why it's just a candid. They're not using it for any of their promo materials. I won't be posting their real headshots without their permission. The pic was mostly to illustrate my point of exposure.

 

A Fotoflex/bounce card giving her some backlight would do nice in seperating her hair from the background

On another note aside from attempting to pick on Dan

I've often thought about B&W with a DSLR as well....and I've often debated in my head (never actually trying it) about the use of color B&W filters....I would assume the effect would be the same once all color info is removed.

 

My thought (guess really) on exposing for B&W is that it's probably much more subject and scene dependant than a color image. In color, blown out highlights are pretty much always a no-no. In B&W though, I bet you can get away with it a lot more depending on how it occurs. Same with dropped out shadows I would assume. Again, these are just my SWAGs. Right now, my tecnique is just futz around in the software until the image looks cool.

Funny you should mention that. You may want to check out my most recent software purchase. You can download a fully functional demo (30 day time-bomb) if you're interested.

http://www.theimagingfactory.com/dat.../cbwp/cbwp.htm

It's pretty damn expensive for what it is, but I'm a lazy SOB at heart and I know this will save me a lot of time over using the PS channel mixer to do my conversions.

I actually used it to have a quick go at converting the tree image I owe you. I was practically bouncing up and down like a little kid at the results. Since it's taken me so long to get you that image, I'm going to send you a B&W as well as the color. I just need to get my colorimeter back from my friend that has it so I can re-profile the newly rebuilt system.

 

Cool, I'll check it out right now. And you dont "owe" the image. I'll take a copy whenever its ready. No rush.