Digital BW, The Print

Anthony G. Atkielski said the following on 4/11/2004 5:26 PM:

> In summary: if you want to shoot black and white, you must _capture_ the
> original image in black and white.  Converting color always gives an
> inferior result.

You can't capture the original image in B&W. It is in color. Mapping it 
to B&W involves a series of implicit decisions about what brightnesss to 
assign assign to a specific colored point.
For film, the decisions are made by the folk who designed its spectral 
response, modified by the photographer who may use a filter.
For a digital capture, the decision about the relative balance could be 
delegated to the camera manufacturer by switching to a B&W mode, or 
control could be maintained by the photographer by by playing with the 
RGB balance in channel mixer. This may or may not be inferior to the 
manufacturer's setting.

>>I too find that I often can't match the look of black and white
>>film with a color conversion, but have always assumed that some
>>amount of messing around would do it.
> 
> 
> You can come close to the look of some black and white films, but you
> cannot duplicate the look.  If you really must have exactly the look of
> a particular B&W film, you must shoot that film directly.
> 
> This is even more true if you are using any kind of filters when taking
> the shots.


...
I completely agree.
-- 
Clive
http://clive.moss.net