Most DSLRs and mirrorless cameras offer a monochrome capture mode and you can always convert your original color file to black and white, after the fact, using Photoshop or your favorite digital imaging software, I’d like to give you a few reasons why, in some instances, direct capture may be a better option:

Creating a low-key headshot: Low-key lighting is a style of portrait lighting for creating a chiaroscuro effect. Chiaroscuro is Italian for light-dark. The use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition.

When I first became involved in digital infrared photography, making portraits was not a recommended use of this technology. Yet, one of the earliest non-landscape applications of IR photography was in wedding photography and you can see some beautiful examples of this from creative photographers in my book, The Complete Guide to Infrared Photography.

When I was teaching a basic photography course at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland, I often would tell my  students that the perfect photographic exposure was the one that they liked.

Mary and I recently went shopping at our favorite Barns & Noble store in Lone Tree, Colorado. While there we also took a peek at movies from the Criterion Collection that were on sale for 50% off but didn’t buy any.