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 1/45^th of a second with a SB800 with softbox attached right and left of subject and set to 1/4^th and 1/16^th 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 1/4^th power to the right and then added the second light at 1/32^nd 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 1/60^th of a second with a SB800 with softbox attached right and left of subject and set to 1/32^nd and 1/4^th 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.