Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/07/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]First, once you start with a digital color image, be it RAW or JPG, it has already been interpolated by the firmware, so the Bayer pattern no longer matter in that sense. Instead, you have pixels of different color values. There are numerous methods of translating these color values into B&W, including the ones you mentioned below, plus a lot more. In addition, since they are color values, you can apply color filters after the fact - a nice benefit of using digital for B&W. This is why there are at least half a dozen ways to convert to B&W using Photoshop and there are a few standalone programs (e.g. Silver Effect) that offer you the "best choice" for the look you are looking for. For the simplest method that works nicely most of the time, you cannot beat Channel Mixer by convert to monochrome and then tweak the color sliders. That should get you 90% to what you want in most cases. Generally, I shoot B&W when I shoot film. I am not terribly enthuse converting color digital to B&W - it just seems to take a lot of work to get the look I like (i.e. Tri-X), at which point, it's probably just easiest to shoot Tri-X :-) On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 5:04 PM, <lrzeitlin at aol.com> wrote: > Technical question: > When a B&W picture is made with a digital camera incorporating a Bayer > filter, are all the pixels on the sensor used to form the image? Or, as in > TV, is the B&W image derived from the green pixels? Secondly, if a color > image is converted to B&W in Photoshop or a similar program, does the > program simply desaturate all the colors, transform the colored pixel > intensity to a greyscale equivalent, or use an algorithm to compose the > image? > I was asked this question at a photography show and I didn't have an > answer. Perhaps a Lugger knows. > Larry Z > > > > ______________________________**_________________ > Leica Users Group. > See > http://leica-users.org/**mailman/listinfo/lug<http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug>for > more information > -- // richard <http://www.imagecraft.com/> // icc blog: <http://imagecraft.com/blog/> // richard's personal photo blog: <http://www.5pmlight.com> [ For technical support on ImageCraft products, please include all previous replies in your msgs. ]