CMOS said:
How do take a b&w photo using a DSLR?
a) Do you activate the b&w feature within the camera, snap and the see the photo on the LCD in b&w
b) Do you snap as per normal color photo and then convert it to b&w using a desktop pc software
Take my comments as a fellow newbie in digital B&W.
This is my understanding and also how I work with the digital medium. Pardon me if I sounded too juvenile in my explanation.
I take my images in color. Then I open up the files in Photoshop.
Then I go to "windows -> channels". A box comes up with 4 sub-boxes. The first one shows the original image in color. The others show the image in monochrome with the red, blue and green channel. I clicked on these monochrome images to get an idea how the image looks like in the different channels. Let us say that I like the image in green channel.
Then I return to "image->adjustment->channels mixer". At the channel mixer box (called a dialogue box?) I click on the "monochrome box". the color will be changed to monochrome. Then I adjust the image by varying the different "percentages" of red, green and blue channels. In this case I may use a channel of using more "green".
I think the above process is useful because the channels show the effects as if you are using different filters.
Do not go from color to "desaturate" immediately.
That will be the basic monochrome image. Then I further adjust by adjusting contrast, lightness/darkness/dodge/burn etc, and finally toning.
It sounds complicated.
But in a simple image, the time I take to change a color image to B&W is less than 5 minutes.
I hope that helps.