December 23, 2009

Dickens on the Strand #3

Today’s photos are of grandfather and granddaughter. I noticed the grandfather sitting on the bench watching everything going on around him. I thought his face and clothing would make for an interesting photo and the reflection in the window would add both context and depth to the image.

When I started photographing him, I immediately encountered a couple problems: reflections from his glasses, the strobes showing up in the window and finally the highly reflective nature of his shirt and cape. The first two were relatively easy to resolve by moving the strobes a little, however, I never really resolved the high reflection off of the shirt. Looking at the histogram, none of the shirt is blown-out, but yet, there is not enough detail in the shirt to make it look real.

In post processing, I used a black and white layer to tone down and mute brightness and intensity of the colors in his clothing.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 at 32mm shot at ISO 200, f/5.6 and 1/45th of a second with a SB800 with softbox attached right and left of subject and set to 1/4th and 1/16th power and triggered with AlienBee radio triggers.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, added clarity.

Photoshop—use nik Silver Efex to create a black and white layer and then reduced the opacity of the layer to 25% to reduce the brightness and intensity of the colors in his clothing.

The photograph of the granddaughter was much easier to light. I wanted part of the sign and the archway in the background and I wanted the lighting to look as if there was some side-lighting coming from the right. We positioned the main light at 1/4th power to the right and then added the second light at 1/32nd power to light under her hat and parasol.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 at 60mm shot at ISO 200, f/5.6 and 1/60th of a second with a SB800 with softbox attached right and left of subject and set to 1/32nd and 1/4th power and triggered with AlienBee radio triggers.

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, added clarity.

Photoshop—use nik Color Efex Pro soft focus filter at a very low level.

Enjoy.

4 comments:

  1. I feel that the photo of the grandfather might be a better black and white. For some reason, the colors seem to distract me from him and what he is doing. The lighting on the grand daughter photo is good. You cannot tell you used flash.
    Mel

    ReplyDelete
  2. Grandfather not very good. Young lady pretty good.
    Charles M

    ReplyDelete
  3. I LIKE BOTH OF THESE. THEY ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT, HOWEVER THERE IS SOMETHING UNIQUE ABOUT EACH OF THEM. I HAVE NOT VISITED YOUR SITE BEFORE HOWEVER I PLAN TO REVISIT IT. GOOD WORK.
    BETTIE

    ReplyDelete
  4. The grand daughter photo has nice lighting and good composition with the inclusion of the arch and sign.
    Anne

    ReplyDelete