A winter of Black and White.

The cold weather (sub-zero temperatures) really lends itself to stretch the post processing muscles a little. This time, instead of doing a bland "average" gradient map conversion, I actually used Adobe Camera Raw's black and white conversion tool, and played with the color sliders a little until my model's skin tones looked 'right'. It's a little more work, but I feel it was worth it.



As usually, you be the judge! I really liked the way this particular photo converted.

Practice Photo Shoot. Oh yes.

Well, I suppose for you who actually know me a little, you know I've been working up to this moment. All these funny exercises, all these pics of my little one, it's all been for this one turning point where I'm now considering myself a decent (digital) photographer. Yes, there is a distinction. With film, there's not nearly as much post processing to be done as with digital, and I find film to be easier to expose correctly for some odd reason. More on that in March when my Hasselblad 500c/m arrives.

So anyway, here we go. I had the pleasure of working with a very cooperative model. I think you will enjoy viewing these as much as I did capturing it.

In no particular order, except for the one I numbered the images in:

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I would say this isn't bad for a first practice shoot. I will say this: for you guys from ILP, I will never put these up for CC. The stuff images are hacked and slashed for on there is just ridiculous unless you're one of the "liked ones", then all of a sudden the white balance issues and weird crops are okay. I know the minor issues these images have, and I'm okay with that. I enjoyed this session way too much to end up feeling bad about them.

Having said that, I am using some of this session for a future portfolio, and more shoots are coming soon. I figure if I'm planning on being in business some day, and living in New York, I have to put up with the cold and snow. Winter is just another season, and it can be a beautiful one, photographically.

Natural Light. On Steroids.

I was watching a video located here the other night; and for those not wanting to check it out, it's about an excellent headshot photographer who goes into what he does and why he does it. Long story short, I picked up a few tips on how to light using natural light from a large window behind the photographer. I was very surprised at the results.

The color version:


And here is the B&W I made from this:

50mm, ƒ/2.0, 1/160sec and ISO 400 (1/3 stop underexposed by accident, but pulled back in PP).

Another one, just for fun:


This was a no-effort exercise. The big window behind me produced the main light, a window 45° camera right added bright side light, and a window 45° camera left added fill. Zero PP done, apart from the B&W conversion, and I didn't even use a Raw file for this. The in-camera JPEG was plenty "high-quality".

As a foot note, I do have to say I shot Raw+JPEG, because I'm a chicken and wouldn't dare using JPEG only. I still don't feel I nail exposure perfectly on a consistent basis, or at least not enough to stick with JPEG only.