Making black and white captures can be difficult, especially if there are colors in the scene that you’d like to enhance with traditional filtration. The S2 always shoots color, but the color file can be converted to grayscale in PhotoShoot™ or Photoshop. There are many reasons why you’ll want to shoot grayscale images in color-- such as being able to filter a scene after the exposure has been made, being able to use multiple filters, and being able to apply any of these filters on any reflectance you choose. How is it done?
To start, let’s look at how a filter works photographically. Most photographers might surmise that a filter lightens scene reflectances of the same color, but that's not the case. Photographic filters absorb specific colors and pass specific colors. The colors that are passed efficiently are those that are the same as or similar to the filter's color. The colors that are absorbed are colors that are complementary (or opposite) to the color of the filter. A filter cannot lighten its own color because all filters have some density; a filter cannot amplify, or manufacture, light. Filters work by absorbing the “other” colors. When the exposure is increased to make up for the absorption of light by the filter (that’s the filter factor), the color that is passed gets more exposure (because its not absorbed by the filter) than the absorbed colors (those that need extra light to be exposed properly).
The digital filter can be applied in RGB, in R, or G, or B. Additionally the “filter” can be applied as a selection, such as a product or object. Further, the “filter” can be applied as a curve, a selective color adjustment, a saturation adjustment or any other image editing edit possible. How do you make the right adjustment? Begin by making a color photograph of the scene you’re interested in rendering to grayscale.
As soon as the capture is made, save the RGB to disk. The file can be edited most efficiently in Photoshop, so open the saved file in Photoshop. Using the Control Strip, click on the colored monitor icon and slide the cursor up to 256 grays.
Your image will be viewed as grayscale but it’s still an RGB. Edits can be made to each of the channels. You can make selections and edit the selections. View your edits as grayscale. When you are finished, make a mode change to grayscale: Image>Mode>Grayscale.
Save the file and name it differently than the RGB or you’ll overwrite the RGB. If you plan to take more than one image to grayscale, you may want to save the edits. Photoshop requires that you save the application of an edit before you apply it. Make a folder somewhere in Photoshop where you can logically organize your work. The Calibration folder is a good place to store edits. When you are finished, change the monitor back to color using the Control Strip.
This methodology is a real boon to those soft, pastel reflectances we need to separate when rendering in grayscale. Too often important values of different hue render the same grayscale value. Now you can filter each of the objects separately, by using a color channel. Add contrast with curves, add value with saturation, remove black with selective color. Experiment to hone this technique: it will come in handy whenever you need it.