My digital camera(Sony DSC-P92) has altogether eliminated the B&W option when it moved from P-52 upwards to P-92. The closest I have is the Sepia option...and that's no match for a good B&W snap!

Love the first snap btw...

I wrote about black and white conversion earlier this year. There are a few links in the post that you might find useful: http://www.fultonchain.net/archives/2004/01/14/black_and_white.html

Thanks Jivha :-) I've got a Sony DSC-S85 that provides a choice of sepia, black and white or color. (hmm...perhaps I accidentally selected sepia - as I didn't have my eyeglasses on when I changed it.) I can't imagine why Sony would get rid of the B&W option on your camera - I'd think that B&W is a more popular choice than sepia.

Al - I'll be sure to check that out (again.) Thanks for the pointer. (p.s. did you get my last email about DNS?)

They're lovely pictures though, 'specially the second one.

I wanted to get a sony digital as soon as I could, but now I'm not so sure anymore. I would like the B&W feature.

Hi Cindy,

When shooting black and white it might be difficult to get solid black tones or pure white while using auto mode. This has to do with the way light meters work - they try to make everything look grey. If you don't want to shoot manual, photoshop is the way to go.

BTW: I like #3.

Ahhhhh... what I'd give to be living near a beach. City life just doesn't compensate.

Hey they're good pictures. Think i might steal them for my photography exam.

Digital's okay, but there's nothing to beat a properly printed silver-gelatin print.

I really recommend checking out Al's tutorial (linked above). I don't know what you mean when you say "Photoshop", but there are some much better ways to control black and white than the obvious ones. They're also FAR better than any camera's default B&W setting. Always shoot in color and adjust later.

I also like the 2nd pic. dark and brooding;].
Most people take pics to say "I've been here" and to remember friends and family. For this auto is fine. You obviously want to be an artist. This doesn't come in a bottle; gotta BLEED for your art (lol), so suck it up and learn the manual settings. Take lots of pics on different settings of same subject and keep a log of what you did for each pic til you find what you like.
The F-stop is the aperture, like the iris in your eye. For bright light conditions and sharpness you close it down to a pinhole. In low light like your pics, increase the exposure (longer shutter open duration). This will increase the crispness of stationary objects although it may make the moving water a tad fuzzy.

Spodamaker - can't argue there. You're right. I was highly amused by 'suck it up' part. I'm still convinced I had set the camera to shoot sepia, not b&w.

Nate - thanks. I did check out Al's stuff, a couple of times.