On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:14:20 GMT, Fotoguy wrote:

On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:30:39 -0700, eNo wrote:

"The question of what makes a good Black and White (B&W) photograph has
puzzled me more than any other photography-related issue. Frankly, for
some time I operated under the principle that I never saw a B&W image
that didn’t look better in color. Then came a trip to Paris this last
spring. Following someone’s observation that “Paris was made for B&W
photography,” I gave B&W a try, even setting my camera to capture B&W
RAW files. I was amazed..."

You can read the rest of the write-up at:
http://esfotoclix.com/blog1/?p=464

[snip]

If you really want to learn to "see" in b&w, take a year off from digital
for a total immersion course: shoot nothing but b&w film, develop it
yourself, and print with an enlarger on real photographic paper. Shoot
lots of different b&w films, do lots of development tests with many
different film developers, learn how to use Contrast Filters, and use
lots of different photo papers while searching for your "style." And
read at least one good book on The Zone System. The entire process will
help you immensely with your digital b&w work, and you'll be a much
better photographer, too.

Or ... get any P&S camera with an EVF and a built-in B&W mode. Then you
directly see and compose in B&W whenever you want at the toggle of a menu
option. There's really no substitute for being able to actually see your
scene in B&W as you compose it. The wonders and benefits of digital cameras
with electronic viewfinders. The better ones do not just desaturate the
image data but apply the same luminance values to the color channels as the
eye sees them. I tested this in the Canon Powershot cameras. Their B&W mode
balances the channels with (approximately) 27% R, 62% G, and 11% B. Really
close to the suggested standard of 30% R, 59% G, and 11% B. Shoot in B&W
for the JPG and save the RAW for later processing to apply any B&W
color-filters that you want by using your Channel Mixer tool in your
favorite editor. The one in Photoline is nice because it has a "Fix to
100%" option, as you change one channel it balances the two others to keep
luminance levels across all three at 100%. You can also alter them
individually from -200% to +200%. Using the 100% ranges allows for some
unique faux IR effects when applied to green foliage. It also has a
contrast adjustment going from -200% to +200%. More fun is had by doing
faux IR effects in full color by applying changes to individual color
channels and not just luminance.