Digital B&W

[davidn]

On advice from you guys bought an E10, great bit of kit. Question, can a red filter be used as in B&W film to accentuate the sky when shooting digital colour and then convert to greyscale in photoshop & get similar results? or is a polariser the way to go?
Any ideas, thanks
David

[srider]

davidn said:

On advice from you guys bought an E10, great bit of kit. Question, can a red filter be used as in B&W film to accentuate the sky when shooting digital colour and then convert to greyscale in photoshop & get similar results? or is a polariser the way to go? Any ideas, thanks David

A polariser would be better. There are photoshop filters which can simulate the effect of coloured BW filters too.

[leszekg]

The red and the polariser filters work in different ways when used with film and I assume the same is true when attached to a digital camera.

The effect of the polariser will depend on the angle of view relative to the sun whereas the red filter does not. If you want an extreme effect you can use both though you may get (1) vignetting if taking with a wide angle lens, and (2) fall off of picture quality from adding more glass in front of your lens though this is usually unnoticeable if the filters are clean and of good quality.

[simpo two]

I think if you have a digital camera and PhotoShop, as you have, then you may as well take the picture 'straight' and play with it later. At least that way you have a true starting point for experimentation.

[davidn]

Thanks for the replies, I think I'll have a go while the enthusiasm is still high, try with and without and mess around in photoshop to see if I can get the results I'm after
Cheers
David

[beano500]

Ah - similar question came up recently.

Steve (getcarter), our resident photoguru, explained his infra technique here

Very inspiring - and there's no reason why you shouldn't do the same with any filter for any effect, I suppose.

And Steve's most excellent and bodacious website is....


....HERE

[simpo two]

beano500 said:

Ah - similar question came up recently.

Yep, though IR is rather different animal to simply a red filter, which in traditional B/W photography is used to enhance clouds. Not sure whether it works by blocking blue light, or by compensating for some deficiency in the film's spectrum though (early film was very insensitve to blue light, which is why photos from the period have plain skies)

[Nacnud]

Similar, but different......
Here's one I'm proud to say I created earlier
www.ephotozine.com/techniques/viewtechnique.cfm?recid=199

[davidn]

Hey McNud,
The enhanced monochrome image is really striking, prefer to the enhanced colour one.
Good info on the 'how to' front, now wheres the nearest light house?
Cheers
David