As clear as black and white

— Posted inUncategorized — 2 min read

Only about a week ago I tried my hand on digital black and white photography for the first time.

My aversion to digital BW started when I got my first digital camera in 2002. I was very happy to get the new toy and trying all available presets. But when I tried the BW, I was very disappointed it looked more grey, washed out, than what I remembered the black and white on film had looked like. It did not do anything for me.

But since I joind the S&T six months ago, I've seen some marverous BW and other monochrome pictures. Now with summer is over for us and dark gloomy winter months approaching, I was ready to try something new.

😀 …


I asked for advice from the S&T veterans. The resources Zdenko pointed to me, other digital photography advices on the net and Michal's confirmation on the advice all said it would be preferable to shoot in colour and convert to BW afterwards.

There are also lots of tools, "filters", available as software on the net, from the professional ones with high price tags to free ones that can be used as plugin for a certain kind of photo editing tool.

After a few days search and experiments, I think I've found the one just right for me. The virualPhotographer filter set from optikVerve Labs, which can be used with the IrfanView plugin for Adobe 8BF filters. They also have a free photo-editing application, virtualStudio, come complete with the virtualPhotographer.

I've spent last couple of days trying out the impressive range of the filters in virtualPhotographer. I have created a new photo album titled "As Clear as Black & White" to share the results. Please take a look.

Which filter do you like? What impression each filter gives you? Do they still have a natural feel to them? Or do they look "over-worked"? Do you have a tip for better processing? I'm very excited about this new plaything and want to learn how I could use it to improve my photography. I'd appreciate any feedback and advice you could give me.

:coffee:

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  2. Thanks for the link, DH. It looks very interesting. :yes:I'm all novice to this and only understand that the preset filters come with virtualPhotographer had varying combination and range of those parameters already applied to. I can also manually manipulate the parameters from "Style" dialogue. Your link will be very useful once I get to the stage of figuring out my favourite styles. 🙂

  3. Thank you, Zdenko. I'm glad you like the photos. I've just started experimenting with post shoot production. And am keen to learn more about this and also about photography in general from my S&T friends. :)So all those photos/conversion filters are OK to share in S&T?

  4. Excellent blog post MM and also album which you have made. :up:I like a lot all of those photos.

  5. All post processing for S&T i do manually because when you use some filter there is algorithm which is hidden to you.And in other hand, if you want to learn something new about photography it is better to try first manual post processing.There are many possibilities first try to play with brightness, contrast, exposure compensation, sharpness and WB. 😉

  6. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Only about a week ago I tried my hand on digital black and white photography for the first time. My aversion to digital BW started when I got my first digital camera in 2002. I was very happy to get the new toy and trying all available presets. But when I tried the BW, I was very disappointed it looked more grey, washed out, than what I remembered the black and white on film had looked like. It did not do anything for me.But since I joind the S&T six months ago, I've seen some marverous BW and other monochrome pictures. Now with summer is over for us and dark gloomy winter months approaching, I was ready to try something new.

    :yes: :cheers:

  8. Yes, the cat looks sulky. I think I like the Steely filter best. There it looks like a greatgrandancestor or something. Very respectable. And sulky 😆

  9. Originally posted by ersi:

    Steely filter best. There it looks like a greatgrandancestor or something. Very respectable. And sulky

    😆 "Steely" does give the impression of 'We are NOT amused!', doesn't it? :DMy favourite is "Classic". "filmnoir" is not bad, either, but seems a little too much contrast at default. Since after this cat facebook experiment, I've found I could use the "Style" tool to fine-tune after default filter is applied. So next time when I "filmnoir" her, I'll make sure to reduce the contrast a notch. 😉

  11. BTW I'd like feedback from people on this picture. As you see in my comment, I had uploaded it to S&T and then had to move it out to my BW experiment album, because I could not see the result of my editing.What does that picture look like to you? Do you see colours? Or do you see monochrome? To me it still appears pretty much monochrome. But DH said it's very green! :confused:

  12. Originally posted by ersi:

    Where's The Cat series.

    😆 She's sulking in her box because I applied the flea treatment this afternoon. She hates the smell :lol:Glad you like those pictures, Eric. :happy:

  13. Thank you for your advice, Zdenko. I did search for how to manually convert to BW. But most instructions assume use of the Photoshop and talk about things like Alpha channel and RGB filter control. The limited range of software I'm able to use does not offer such things. I did try to install the plugins that claim to enable use of those control in IrfanView but had no luck using them. 🙁 At least this new virtualStudio photo editor has Gamma and colour temperature control, while virtualPhotographer has exposure compensation. What I like about the virtualPhotographer filters is I can see the result instantly at the finger tip. At this novice stage what I need is learn what makes my photos look good for purpose, in this case in monochrome. I think using those filters to see what can be done to them and choosing the right filter for the particular picture is one way for learning that.Then later when I know what I want in my edited pictures, I shall try learning more about manual editing.

  14. The Classic and Filmnoir hide the sulkiness effectively. Too effectively, I'd say. With some of the other filters I can see much clearer what is going on in the cat's mind and I think Original and Steely are the most telling in this sense. As to colours, I can see the tones, but I am unable to offer constructive critique on them. I have impressions, and my preference is Steely for my own silly reasons. Anyway, people have different settings on their monitors which you have no power over.

  16. Originally posted by ersi:

    The Classic and Filmnoir hide the sulkiness effectively. Too effectively, I'd say.

    😆 That's probably why I like them. As a pet owner I always have a biased view on my cats. 😀 Originally posted by ersi:

    As to colours, I can see the tones, … people have different settings on their monitors which you have no power over.

    Yes, unfortunately. It could be another reason why trying manual colour control may not be a good thing for me to do with my current set up. I could easily imagine my attempt to create a BW image manually ending up some totally wrong colours which I could not see. Well I am thinking about getting a new PC some time. I will probably go for an all-in-one desktop this time, not a laptop. Hopefully it comes with a better larger monitor. 🙂

  23. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Well I am thinking about getting a new PC some time. I will probably go for an all-in-one desktop this time, not a laptop. Hopefully it comes with a better larger monitor.

    If screen is the main thing, most laptops allow attaching another monitor. If the laptop is otherwise capable, one extra monitor is all you need to buy. But if you badly want a new computer, a big iMac is probably the best for graphical works. By design it is just a huge screen with a keyboard attached to it.

  24. Originally posted by ersi:

    If the laptop is otherwise capable, one extra monitor is all you need to buy.

    Thanks for the advice. I'm budget tight. This option seems worth considering. 🙂

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