Example ~ Sony "BW Print Quality" Creative Style recipe

Until recently I've been rather skeptical of being able to generate in-camera jpg's that had any decent sense of black and white imaging.  Between my complete lack of trust of any in-camera jpg processing engine and my utter disregard for the bulk of digital black and white work, I've stuck to what I've learned about RAW processing black and white images.

And then... an interesting thing happened when working with Sony "Picture Profile"s.  I found that I could meet in-camera the three base criteria that I hold to be self-evident (but which likely aren't at all self evident) for making a digital image that can rival the old black and white film chemical film/print process.  These criteria being...

1. Raise the mid-tones  
   
2. Dark regions are "open" with detail 
   
3. Retain a hint of tone in gently rolling off highlights  

With these criteria in mind, I wanted to see if there was a Sony "Creative Style" that allowed me to get around "Picture Profile" stills work limitations and make a beautiful black and white image that retains old film print-like qualities.  

Surprisingly, it didn't take much research to see that the Creative Style "Light" might fit the bill.  This style raises the middle of the luminosity curve in a way that satisfies all three of the aforementioned criteria.  Though...

To make this work, I needed to make one concession to my attempt to only use in-camera "min-lab" capabilities.  In the case of using "Light" for black and white work, I need to completely desaturate the image after image export since this Creative Style is really a color "look".  I'm not aware of a way fully desaturating Creative Styles in-camera.  Therefore, I would rely on whatever image processing app is available to me on the tablette or cellphone to perform the desaturation step.

Sony "BW Print Quality" recipe
Sony NEX-7, Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN
f/6.3, 160th sec, -0.7EV
Snapseed desaturation, -20 vignette

 

Sony "BW Print Quality" Creative Style recipe ~

Creative Style ~ 

    Light

        0 Contrast <- contrasty sun/shadow scenes
        +1 Contrast <- normal contrast scenes   
        +2 or +3 Contrast <- flat illumination

        0 Saturation

        0 Sharpness

    White Balance ~ 

        C Temp./Filter ~ AWB

    Exposure Value ~

        -0.3EV ~ +/- this value depending on overall
            scene brightness, paying close attention to
            the dominant tone (light or dark)

Exported Image Operations ~

    Use a suitable image processing application to desaturate into BW

 

-------------------- Comments  ----------------------

This has been a rather fruitful adventure.  

What started as an exercise to attempt to match Fuji in-camera "Film Simulations" ends up with me understanding, borrowing, and creating a broad range of recipes that implement an interesting series of color-gradings to work with, as well as instilling in me a renewed appreciation for the power and flexibility of Sony's in-camera tools for jpg generation. 

I'm enjoying the in-camera color-gradings, and I'm particularly happy to see that I can actually make a correct black and white image as well.  Is there any wonder why I've taken to referring to my cameras as mobile "mini-labs?"  I can take the above example image straight to print, publishing, or sharing on the internet.

Ultimate flexibility remains in the use of RAW processing software on the Big Computer.  Certainly I can control the results to a much greater degree than I can using the in-camera "mini-lab." But with care and a bit of knowledge and experience, I'm finding in-camera results more than acceptable.

Perhaps for the kinds of images I make these days, all that Big Computer heavy lifting isn't necessary.  I'll see what happens next.  Obviously, shooting RAW+jpg could pay off in having the best of both worlds in imaging flexibility.  Fortunately memory is cheap these days.

Limitation ~

Unlike with the "BW Print Quality" Picture Profile recipes, Sony Creative Style Light doesn't provide a direct way of creating in-camera black and white filters, though I've yet to fully explore the possibilities of modifying the white balance.

-------------------- Additional Information ----------------------

Sony Creative Style ~ basic knowledge

RawTherapee "BW Print quality" RAW processing recipe

Sony Picture Profile "BW Print quality" in-camera jpg recipe