Black-and-white photography tip: Shoot in colour
Wednesday 17 April 2024, 20:02 by Elja Trum | 2,160 views | 4 commentsThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
There are many different ways to convert a photo to black and white. In principle, you can convert any colour tone into any shade of grey. How you do this conversion is very important for the final black-and-white photo.
You retain maximum flexibility by not having your camera convert your photos to black and white. Your camera uses a standard conversion for this. It is smarter to convert the photo to black and white yourself afterwards. This lets you decide exactly how dark or light you want to convert a particular colour into a shade of grey.
So take your photos in colour, rather than directly in black and white. If you shoot in raw, your photo will always contain colour information, even if the camera is set to black and white.
About the author
Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.
You might also like
-
Pressing the black and white conversion button is never enoughby Nando Harmsen
-
10 tips for photographing mushroomsby Nando Harmsen
-
7 tips for snow photosby Elja Trum
-
10 Tips for Beginner Photographersby Elja Trum
-
Portrait in Harsh Sun? Create Your Own Shadeby Elja Trum
4 comments
-
Mac wrote on Thursday 18 April 2024 at 08:03 | replyOr buy a Pentax or Leica monochrome camera
Translated from Dutch.
(unfortunately no budget for that) -
Elja Trum
wrote on Thursday 18 April 2024 at 09:08
| reply
So those cameras have the very specific disadvantage that you can't take colour photos with them. And by that I mean for the black-and-white conversion you can then carry out.
Translated from Dutch.
With cameras that only capture black and white, you can no longer adjust the black-and-white tones afterwards based on the colour.
If you do want that, you'll have to start working with colour filters while taking your photo.
Apart from that, precisely because of this limitation, such cameras are certainly also fun for die-hard black-and-white photographers. -
Slimpie wrote on Thursday 25 April 2024 at 22:04
| reply
I simply photograph in black and white because then you immediately see the effect of a conversion. If you photograph in RAW and JPEG, you can later convert the RAW version, which is in color, to black and white in a way that suits you better.
Translated from Dutch. -
Elja Trum
wrote on Thursday 25 April 2024 at 23:02
| reply
The thing about RAW is stated literally in the tip.
Translated from Dutch.
The point I was trying to make here was precisely that if you photograph only in JPEG, you are better off working in color. In RAW, it is indeed nicer to set the camera to black and white.
Have your say
Please note: Articles older than a week can only be commented on by signed-in visitors.Would you still like to comment? sign in or create a free account.
Become a better photographer every week
A practical photography tip in your inbox every week.
39,190 photography enthusiasts already receive the tips! More about the weekly mail. Or keep up to date via 
Facebook.
Elja Trum
Photofacts; everything to do with photography!
Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about PhotofactsPhotofacts is made possible in part by
