Shooting B&W at DVinfo.net

Ken Beckmann · December 23rd, 2004, 04:51 PM

When shooting in black and white in camera (GL2), do filters work the same as with film? ie; red filter making blue sky darker, yellow filter for better skin tones, ect.

Thanks Ken B.

Marco Leavitt · December 25th, 2004, 03:23 PM

There's a number of posts about this topic already. General consensus seems to be that the filters can be used with video, but the effect isn't exactly the same as in shooting film. I believe you would actually shoot color and convert to black and white later. I know from working in Photoshop that you can get a similar effect by simply throwing out two of the three color channels (RGB) and converting the remaining channel to black and white, frequently the red channel or the green. I would think the same technique would work with video, but I've never tried it.

Ken Beckmann · December 26th, 2004, 05:22 PM

Marco, thanks for your reply. When I get a chance and some yellow and red filters I'll test them while shooting in black and white mode and report back what I find.
Ken

Rob Lohman · December 29th, 2004, 06:25 AM

That would be great Ken!

Just as a note, there a multiple ways to convert the camera's
color signal to B&W. The camera can do it itself (via some way)
or you can do it in post through all sort of ways (using just one
channels as Marco indicated, using the luminance signal when in
YUV mode, using a B&W conversion filter etc. etc.)

Ken Beckmann · December 29th, 2004, 05:54 PM

Rob,

I have tried many ways, filters/ plugins/ setting desities, contrasts/ ect. both in photo shop and vegas to get the dark blue sky and bright white clouds as I did when I was doing black and white art prints with Tri-X film but have not been able to duplicate. May have to wait until we go full circle with color video going back to b&w just for the look, as film did when it was first b&w, then color, then some artists went back to b&w.

Thanks Ken

December 23rd, 2004, 04:51 PM	#1
Ken Beckmann New Boot Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 5	Shooting B&W When shooting in black and white in camera (GL2), do filters work the same as with film? ie; red filter making blue sky darker, yellow filter for better skin tones, ect. Thanks Ken B.

December 29th, 2004, 06:25 AM	#4
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	That would be great Ken! Just as a note, there a multiple ways to convert the camera's color signal to B&W. The camera can do it itself (via some way) or you can do it in post through all sort of ways (using just one channels as Marco indicated, using the luminance signal when in YUV mode, using a B&W conversion filter etc. etc.) __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

December 25th, 2004, 03:23 PM	#2
Marco Leavitt Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Albany, NY 12210 Posts: 2,652	There's a number of posts about this topic already. General consensus seems to be that the filters can be used with video, but the effect isn't exactly the same as in shooting film. I believe you would actually shoot color and convert to black and white later. I know from working in Photoshop that you can get a similar effect by simply throwing out two of the three color channels (RGB) and converting the remaining channel to black and white, frequently the red channel or the green. I would think the same technique would work with video, but I've never tried it.

December 26th, 2004, 05:22 PM	#3
Ken Beckmann New Boot Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 5	Marco, thanks for your reply. When I get a chance and some yellow and red filters I'll test them while shooting in black and white mode and report back what I find. Ken

December 29th, 2004, 05:54 PM	#5
Ken Beckmann New Boot Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 5	Rob, I have tried many ways, filters/ plugins/ setting desities, contrasts/ ect. both in photo shop and vegas to get the dark blue sky and bright white clouds as I did when I was doing black and white art prints with Tri-X film but have not been able to duplicate. May have to wait until we go full circle with color video going back to b&w just for the look, as film did when it was first b&w, then color, then some artists went back to b&w. Thanks Ken