Steve Schuenke and I have photographed Dickens on the Strand for the past three years and I think both of us seemed to be a little tired of the regular Victorian-era photos that we had made in the past. Before going, we talked about doing something different, but neither one of us could come-up with that “something different.” I had so much fun photographing Sarah a few weeks ago using natural light and shallow depth-of-field that I decided that was going to try something similar at Dickens.
Steve and I walked around for a long time without taking many photos. Finally, we arrived at a booth that sold various wears for a subculture known as “steampunk.” I knew nothing about them however I immediately began firing away at everything that was wearing goggles and was moving. Over 90% of my shots for the day were taken with an aperture of f/2.8 or f/3.3 and were done without directing the person being photographed--more like street photography,
This young lady was very striking and I knew that her photo would be likewise. Still I wanted to do that “something different” that Steve and I discussed. I felt that photographing only half of her face might put the twist that I wanted. I was pleased with the results.
Enjoy
Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 shot at 200mm, ISO 200, f/2.8 and 1/350th of a second.
Post Processing:
Lightroom 3—Set black and white points, added clarity and increased contrast.
Photoshop CS5—used spot healing to clean-up various ugly spots and used nik Silver Efex Pro to make a black & white layer which I then overlaid it at 35% opacity to reduce the saturation of the colors.
Steampunk (never heard of it either) sounds like it would have to be "something different" in any case! Seeing only half of her face is certainly different but it makes me want to see all of her. From what I can tell the lighting is soft and natural looking. THe dark background and the fall off of focus of her hair to the darkness is really nice too. Did you take any compositions of her full face? I'd like to see one....
ReplyDeleteMy eye goes immediately to her eye. Love the dreamy look she has. Yes, I would like to see more of her face but I think that adds to the interest in the photo.
ReplyDeleteAnne
This looks like a photo that should be on the cover of a fashion magazine. Nice.
ReplyDeleteDebbie
I like the framing and I like the shallow depth of field. But it does make me wonder what the goggles and thing? is on her hat.
ReplyDeleteMel
Definitely a photo that I have spent looking at.
ReplyDeleteNida