Pushing my Style a bit - Jack's Snow Day

[kres]

I'm working on my filling out my portrait styles. I have always tended to prefer a more realistic / representative processing for my "people shots." However I'm really bored with that, and am edging outside of my box a bit. Studying / groking on where I would want to go by looking at other peoples work has helped a lot, and I think I'm onto something here.

http://gallery.lightbranch.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Jack-in-the-Storm/745150529_Lmxwd-L.jpg

http://gallery.lightbranch.com/Portfolio/Portraits/VIV8522-Jack-Eyes-Gradiant/745198508_ce8kQ-L.jpg

Whaddya think?

[Caspian]

I like them both. The first one really holds my attention. The eyes are sharp and the shallow DOF draws attention to the face. What are you doing besides getting in close? Anything in post processing? I also use Nikons, what is the camera and lens information?
Thanks,
David

[Darren Troy C]

LOVE that first one!

[kres]

I like them both. The first one really holds my attention. The eyes are sharp and the shallow DOF draws attention to the face. What are you doing besides getting in close? Anything in post processing? I also use Nikons, what is the camera and lens information?
Thanks,
David
Thanks David -

It was taken with a D200 and a 50mm 1.8. ISO200/60/4.0

I pushed the exposure a little under a full stop during the shoot to comp the snow, and then bumped it up a bit more from RAW.

(For me this means clicking the slider up and listening to my inner voice screaming "Blasphemy!" while the counter chorus chants "Change is good! Change is good!")

From there I use an unsharp mask to pop the eyes. After that it's alot of burning and dodging with an obsessive amount of sat and hue fiddling. However, based on Miss B's Gradient map tick (See "pop-a-red" thread in this forum) I think I can get a more intense effect in a shorter time.

[kres]

LOVE that first one!

Thanks Darren.

I'm finding that photog's are liking the 1st one better and family is enjoying the second one better... Intresting. (To me at least :D)

[divamum]

Actually, I'm a vote for #2 - LOVE the eyes. In the first one, it took me a second to look past the softness created by the falling snow and see those lovely sharp eyes.

When you say "more realistic /representative" style in the past - do you mean less processing, or more aggresive processing or...? Just curious what you're moving from :D

[Agnieszka]

Cute photos! His eyes pop in both of them :thumb:lust

[Kathy Ray]

Beautiful...colors and sharp!

[kres]

Actually, I'm a vote for #2 - LOVE the eyes. In the first one, it took me a second to look past the softness created by the falling snow and see those lovely sharp eyes.

When you say "more realistic /representative" style in the past - do you mean less processing, or more aggresive processing or...? Just curious what you're moving from :D
I learned and stayed for a long while with a black and white photojournalism phase. Almost all of my darkroom and camera handling comes from there. Folks I did shots for had very little tolerance for dramatic interpretation. So if I wanted a shot to convey more then "just the facts" I had to rely on tricks of natural lighting.

Picking up digital years ago, I was aware of what could be done, but it seemed so misleading (for lack of a better word) to do it to my chained and fettered mind.

Well, from exposure ignorance wilts, and even though I've let my manipulation of the "shot" and composition get more daring (for me) I started force feeding myself on styles left of center with processing. I expect to produce some fantastically painful stuff over the next year, but hopefully I can temper into the style that a little voice in my head is telling me is within my reach.

So, I'm exploring the brave new world of blowing out shots, tweaking / changing the lighting as I see fit and (gasp!) manipulating details of the subject/object to present a purpose other then graphic record of the exact point in time.

Old Dog meet new tricks. :D

Thanks for all the comments folks! Oh, and in general, feel free to nit-pick. C&C is welcome and invited.

[kres]

As an example... this is closer to the way I'd naturally process a shot

http://uttenweiler.smugmug.com/Family/2009DEC20-Snow-Snow-Snow/VIV8571-Jack-In-the-Snow/745570282_BVqws-L.jpg

[ivar]

Out of the three posted, I prefer the first two actually. Very nice, love the eyes in them :thumb

[met]

The first one is my favorite. Very cool. :thumb

[l.k.madison]

As a parent, I like the first one best, him chewing on his coat just brings out a hint of a playful personality.

As a photog, I like the second one the best, I just can't help but stare at those eyes!!

If it wasn't so close to Christmas, I'd say you should put that on your Christmas card!!

They're both amazing!!

Oh, if only we had enough snow for that every year. *sigh*

[rhondavid]

WOW, you nailed these. He is adorable. Love the eyes and the coat in the mouth. What a cutie!!

[Joe Dukovac]

I also a vote for number 2. I love that closeup. It's not to say that the other two that are posted aren't good, they are very nice, but I just love the closeup in #2. Nice job!

Joe

[divamum]

I learned and stayed for a long while with a black and white photojournalism phase. Almost all of my darkroom and camera handling comes from there. Folks I did shots for had very little tolerance for dramatic interpretation. So if I wanted a shot to convey more then "just the facts" I had to rely on tricks of natural lighting.

Picking up digital years ago, I was aware of what could be done, but it seemed so misleading (for lack of a better word) to do it to my chained and fettered mind.

Well, from exposure ignorance wilts, and even though I've let my manipulation of the "shot" and composition get more daring (for me) I started force feeding myself on styles left of center with processing. I expect to produce some fantastically painful stuff over the next year, but hopefully I can temper into the style that a little voice in my head is telling me is within my reach.

So, I'm exploring the brave new world of blowing out shots, tweaking / changing the lighting as I see fit and (gasp!) manipulating details of the subject/object to present a purpose other then graphic record of the exact point in time.

Old Dog meet new tricks. :D

Thanks for all the comments folks! Oh, and in general, feel free to nit-pick. C&C is welcome and invited.

What a wonderfully expressed response! (Btw, I hope you do read the Street/PJ forum here at digrin as well? Quite a few similar "old dogs" experimienting with new tricks AND traditional film-styles frequent that part of the site, and I think you may find it interesting if you haven't already checked it out :thumb)

It's interesting, because my background is exactly the opposite of yours. Yes, I shot film once upon a time (even did a little bit of my own self-taught bw developing for a while), but never had ENOUGH film to burn to quite find my feet and nail the technical side of things (which, I'll be honest, is still my weak point, although it's improving all the time largely thanks to this place!). Digital has allowed me to take a lot (and I mean a LOT) of frames without breaking the bank, and instant feedback on the lcd screen has been another wonderful teacher. So many pennies have dropped in the last year that it's a miracle my brain doesn't clink when I walk!

The ability to process at the computer instead of a fume-filled darkroom just adds to the fun for me and, although I will happily mess around for hours with overblown processing just to experiment and figure out *how* to do it, in actuality I really prefer post-production to be used to bring out what's already there rather than assert itself too strongly or alter reality to the point where it's no longer recognizable (recent snow shots notwithstanding - as stated in that thread, it was an experiment!!! :rofl)

Enjoy the new approach (and come back and share more shots :thumb)!