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[OM] Re: Hoya Pro1 DMC question

Subject: [OM] Re: Hoya Pro1 DMC question
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 15:52:23 -0700
Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> Moose wrote:
>
>   
> <snip points of agreement  :-) >
>> For B&W, filters still do things digital processing can't match. It can 
>> do some similar things, like darkening skies and enhancing clouds, but 
>> not the same things. Selective filtering based on color info that is no 
>> longer there is pretty tough.
>>     
>
> But I don't agree with this point.  But perhaps I'm just ignorant.  It 
> seems to me that characteristic B&W filtering such as using green, 
> yellow, orange, red, etc filters can still be accomplished in post 
> processing.  Or do you contend that what's captured on the sensor is 
> simply not a 100% realistic representation of the original light.  I 
> think that is probably true but I think it would be pretty 
> inconsequential.  So, what did you mean that I don't understand?
>   
Once the image has been captured in B&W, it is not possible to tell 
whether a particular shade of gray was red or green or blue in the 
original subject, or indeed any combination of those, It is simply a 
defined gray scale brightness. So there is no way to selectively process 
certain colors and not others. A red filter, for example, decreases the 
amount of green and blue that reach the sensor, darkening sky and 
foliage. That selective adjustment to brightness based on color can't be 
done to an image with no color information.

If the image is captured in color, it is certainly possible to apply 
selective color to it before or in the process of converting to B&W. PS 
starting with CS2 even includes filters that emulate physical photo 
filters. However, the great B&W mavens insist that color capture, film 
or digital, and conversion to B&W does not create that same magic of 
which B&W film is capable, at least in their hands.

Being no B&W expert, and understanding that, perhaps more than color, 
the subtleties of a fine B&W print simply don't translate to a web 
image, I bow to their expertise and include filters for B&W among those 
that can't be fully duplicated in the digital darkroom.

For my un-expert self, my entry in the B&W TOPE was shot in color and 
converted to B&W, with a lot of experimentation with the effects of 
different "filtering" to get the tonal balance I wanted. 
http://www.tope.nl/tope_show_entry.php?event=13&pic=30 
<http://www.tope.nl/tope_show_entry.php?event=13&pic=30>

Moose

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