Digital Black & White

[Fourwings]

You can tell its Winter, when there's no insects about for me to photograph I start doing odd things!
My latest experiment was to switch my Finepix S7000 to Black & White mode and have a blast at doing some monochrome work.
I have tried converting images to B&W in the past with photoshop and have never been happy with the results, so I thought if you set the camera to B&W, you then have to look at things in a slightly different way, ie... high contrast, deep shadows etc...

So far I'm quite suprised by the results, infact I've actually found myself saving some of them, I really think that using B&W could have its advantages in certain situations, when colour is not an issue it really seems to pick out detail and has the effect of making you look far more closely at shapes and form.

Has anyone else tried this or is it just a case of an insect photographer going slightly potty!!

[glsammy]

Your not alone Steve!
I've recently bought a copy of Digital Photo, as it had a special feature on black and white images. Very handy and full of useful info, including how to convert to black and white in CS2, whilst retaining all the detail. It's got a DVD full of CS2 guides on converting images to Black and White. If you just do a simple conversion, as you said, the results are flat and lifeless.
I'm so impressed with it I'm considering subscribing to the mag.

[spideyj]

Hiya Steve,

No, your not alone. I still work in black & white for a lot of shots. Sometimes it just adds that bit of atmosphere you don't quite get with colour, especially in landscapes and potraits.

Anyway, nice pics. Keep shooting in B&W!!!

Lee

[badgerwatcher]

They're lovely, Fourwings. I love black and white photographs, as I think it makes the viewer look at different things, once colour distractions are removed.