Digital BW, The Print

> From: Anthony G. Atkielski [mailto:anthony@...]
>
> The real problem is that you cannot duplicate the unique response of
> true B&W capture with any conversion from RGB, because the information
> just isn't present in an RGB image.  Just as you cannot produce true
> infrared from RGB, you cannot produce true B&W from RGB.

Since the human eye sees in color, _all_ black and white images are by
definition arbitrary. You may prefer an image in which some infrared or
ultraviolet light has been turned into visible white, but it's no more
"correct" than anything else.

In reality, you can take a digital RGB image and produce very pleasing B&W
prints. The fact that you can't produce _exactly_ the same image you'd get
with B&W film (or a broadband monochrome CCD) means nothing, except to the
extent that you happen to prefer the film result for a particular image. On
the other hand, B&W film and a bag full of filters can't produce nearly the
range of possibilities you can get from an RGB sensor and Photoshop.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...