shooting black and white on video

[nir evron]

hi

i will be shooting a video on a sony pd 170 or might go for the new hdv sony. i am planning to turn the footage into black and white. do i need to adjust the settings in any way for black and white ? shoot with filter ? any suggestions ?

 

thanks

 

nir

[Paul Bruening]

Hey,

 

I shot my last feature in black and white DV. Tiffen makes a nice orange filter for B&W film photography that makes the sky pop with detail. I forget what it was called, but you can find it easily under B&W photo filters on bhphotovideo.com. We used it on all exterior, day shots. Brother, did it make the clouds and sky sing!

[Shawn Mielke]

I've been achieving B/W in post with my PD170 footage for the past number of months. Pleasing

b/w dv is definitely possible, and is a surefire solution to one of the format's weaknesses: colour!

[Lars.Erik]

The new Sony HDV actually has a integrated B&W menu. Just seen it once. Never actually used it.

 

Anyone compared this to taking the colours out in post?

 

I don't quite agree with Shawn, even if I do see a point to his claim. Colour in DV can be good, you just have to be able to control them.

 

If you want to shot B&W the most important thing one must do, I believe this anyway, is to have good contrast in your lighting. Without this your pictures may appear flat. The DV tape will be able to have a 5:1 lighting contrast at the most extreme. After this all details in the blacks and white's (the darkest and brightest ones) will lose all detail. But if this is for television you might be better off going for a 4:1 contrast.

 

The filter Paul spoke about I'd go for. These are good, I believe they make them in more colours than just orange. Different colurs for different grades.

[Matt Irwin]

If you want to shot B&W the most important thing one must do, I believe this anyway, is to have good contrast in your lighting. Without this your pictures may appear flat.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly. I'd say that contrast and seperation are the two most important things when it comes to good looking B&W. Seperation could be with light, focus, color (complimentary colors of the same value, for lack of a better term, will render the same shade of grey), or any combo of the above... unless you don't want seperation.

 

I shot a B&W film with an XL1 and then desaturated in post- the results were wonderful. A little bit of crushing in the shadows goes a long way.