Advice

Seeing in grayscale to distinguish between quality of light versus quantity

If you set your camera to the camera raw setting and use either Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, then you might want to try this trick. Setting your camera to display the image as BW or Monochrome in your camera's LCD/preview monitor will help you become a better photographer.
If you set your camera to the camera raw setting and use either Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, then you might want to try this trick. Setting your camera to display the image as BW or Monochrome in your camera’s LCD/preview monitor will help you become a better photographer.  Canon Powershot G11 shot on camera raw. I intended to make enlargements of this image, so I switched from JPEG to camera raw when I shot this. I also planned on this becoming a Grayscale or Black and White image so I wanted the most information my camera could capture. ISO 200 1/400 sec @ f4.5

There is a generation of wonderful photographers now who have never set foot inside a wet darkroom.

So we can safely conclude that shooting film is no longer a necessity in becoming a skillful photographer.

Some folks have the knack of recognizing lighting that works and know how to best utilize it to suit their muse.

What I am suggesting is that if you have access to software: either Adobe Camera Raw or a photo editor like Adobe Lightroom, you might want to do this.

If you don’t feel like spending money but want to try this out, you can download the free open source software called Lightzone which has  capability to edit raw files.

Canon Menu
Canon Menu
nikon_quality2
Nikon menu

On your DSLR, set your quality to camera raw.

Nikon users, choose “.NEF.” Canon folks, choose the “.CR” option.

canon-menu-quality1

Changing Picture Style which changes the display of the image when you press the "Preview" button.
Changing Picture Style which changes the display of the image when you press the “Preview” button.

canon-menu-quality4

Then under picture style for Canon users, use “Monochrome”.

Nikon users, you probably have a similar setting.

You want to be sure you are setting your camera to record camera raw but just making your camera display the image in Black and White or Monochrome.

Over time, you will be able to ignore the distractions of colors and start paying attention to just the quality of the light and not the quantity.

Your camera’s exposure meter tells you the quantity of light, how bright a scene is and suggests your shutter speed and aperture at a given ISO setting.

Peter Phun Photography

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