Come to think of it, can the multicolour Pentax K-x shoot in monochrome? Sure it can.
Not only that, like in the K-7, you can make further adjustment as to how you want the black and white pictures to appear.
Which brings us to the question posed in the title. Should we shoot black and white photographs in colour and then desaturate them using image editor like Photoshop, or should we shoot in monochrome because afterall we want the photos to be in monochrome?
To shoot or not to shoot in monochrome
My news photographer friend said never take a picture in black and white even if you want a monochrome picture. “Always shoot in colour and desaturate it later using Photoshop,” he said.
I asked him why not? He said it’s because I might it better in colour and that shooting in monochrome was like crossing a point of no return — you can monochrome a colour picture but you cannot put back the orignial colour to a black and white picture.
I guess my friend is right
Shooting pictures in colour allows a photographer the flexibility to work on an image. For instance, after desaturating the colour, he may want to put back a hint of it, thus creating a whole new mood for the picture.
He may also want to retain only certain colours, giving the picture a dramatic effect.
But he could be wrong
There are risks that come with crossing the point of no return. And taking them make all the journey more interesting and challenging.
I guess if one really wants to shoot black and white pictures, he or she ought to shoot them in black and white. Period. If you think of putting back colour into the photo later, then shoot, by all means, in colour.
With digital camera, you would get to see how have the pictures come out. And then you can reshoot it if you are not satisfied with it. This way you can also learn the craft of shooting in monochrome and not just the craft of altering pictures in Photoshop!
