Train station

[bswallace1000]

Yesterday I was the first time I have ever photographed people that I dont know and they dont know me. It was a little challenging at first but after a few minutes I didnt have much trouble at all. Most people didnt care but a few were uncomfortable and a couple just didnt like it. Here is one from yesterday that I actually liked. Tell me what you think.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v142/bswallace1000/trainstation.jpg

[tonydee]

I find having the background so much brighter than the subject tends to draw the eye away. Still, the pipe, sports shoes/bag, expression and body language create some contrast (health-conscious or not...?), character and interest. Rule of Thirds well used. Either it's slightly off horizontal, or I am, but either way I'm hoping nobody will notice. Cheers, Tony

[bswallace1000]

I find having the background so much brighter than the subject tends to draw the eye away. Still, the pipe, sports shoes/bag, expression and body language create some contrast (health-conscious or not...?), character and interest. Rule of Thirds well used. Either it's slightly off horizontal, or I am, but either way I'm hoping nobody will notice. Cheers, Tony

Thanks Tony! I tried to burn the background a little to help that but I couldnt get any better. Maybe someone with better photoshop skills could do better. I will try to get a friend to work on it for me and post his results. The ground is not level for some reason, I guess because of the train loading area but if you look at the top of the picture where the bricks are it looks level.

[tonydee]

Re background: yeah - might get a little mileage but it'll be hard yakka.

Re horizontals/verticals... looking very carefullly, the bricks to slope left to right too, but anyway the sides of the column are more important than the top line of grouting. Not much in it anyway. FWIW, some tools like GIMP and photoshop allow flexible distortion corrections, rather than picture-wide rotation, which ensures all the lines you want horizontal or vertical can be so simultaneously. I wouldn't bother here really.

Best of luck with it,
Tony

[givtu]

Nice composition. When I looked at it, the first thing I did was wonder what this fellow was looking at and what he might have been thinking. In my opinion, a good photograph evokes some sort of strong response or reaction from the viewer. I believe that's what separates photographs from a snapshots.
I've found that this sort of subject matter can be more striking in black and white than color since the focus is not on the colors of the objects in the photo but the emotional impact of the composition. Sometimes color just gets in the way.
Here's my take on it:
http://www.garvinworks.com/photog/train.jpg

[bswallace1000]

Nice composition. When I looked at it, the first thing I did was wonder what this fellow was looking at and what he might have been thinking. In my opinion, a good photograph evokes some sort of strong response or reaction from the viewer. I believe that's what separates photographs from a snapshots.
I've found that this sort of subject matter can be more striking in black and white than color since the focus is not on the colors of the objects in the photo but the emotional impact of the composition. Sometimes color just gets in the way.
Here's my take on it:


I like it in b&w too. I would have done that if I could have made it look that good.

[bswallace1000]

I played with black & white in photoshop and couldnt get mine to look that good. What all did you have to do to the photo or what is the best way?

[griptape]

I'm sorry, but I have to ask where in the world people smoke wooden pipes AND wear tennis shoes at the same time.

[bswallace1000]

I'm sorry, but I have to ask where in the world people smoke wooden pipes AND wear tennis shoes at the same time.

Only in Dallas, Texas. It is even more common to see older men with pipes and boots but this was in downtown so you probably wont find many boots there.

[F4 Cyborg]

You find the boots on Main St, in the court house.

[bswallace1000]

You find the boots on Main St, in the court house.

or anywhere in Ft Worth!

[givtu]

I played with black & white in photoshop and couldnt get mine to look that good. What all did you have to do to the photo or what is the best way?

My b/w conversion process is simple.
After your normal post processing is done, do this:

1) use image>adjustments>black & white. Move the mouse cursor over the original color image. Depending on the weight of the color, one of the sliders will be selected in the dialog box (red or yellow 90% of the time). Use the slider to alter the tone of that color. For instance, I moused over the gentleman's face and PS selected the red slider. I adjusted it for the best detail and tone for the man's face (since this is one of the most important aspects of the photo), and once I had that to my satisfaction, I used the other sliders to see how it altered the tones and contrast of the rest of the image. Experiment.
2)Make an adjustment layer for curves. I used a very slight S-curve to boost the overall contrast.
3)With the curves layer selected, merge the layers by doing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E. This will put a new layer with the original and curves layers above the curves layer. Now do filter>other>high pass. Set the radius fairly high. It depends on the size of the image. For instance, your image that I copied off the web page required a radius of 10. For 21 megapixel shots from my 5DII, I might use a radius of 50 - 80. Basically, you should start at 1 and move the slider up just until the image looks very "halo-ish". Don't overdo it too much or it won't have the proper effect. Once you have it, set the opacity of this layer to 30% - 50%, then set the blending mode to either Overlay (first choice), Soft Light, Or Hard Light. Once again, experiment. This will make a dramatic local contrast adjustment that will give it that "gritty" feel.

Here's another example:
http://www.garvinworks.com/photog/woman_dog.jpg


That's my b/w conversion process. Hope it helps!

[bswallace1000]

My b/w conversion process is simple.
After your normal post processing is done, do this:

1) use image>adjustments>black & white. Move the mouse cursor over the original color image. Depending on the weight of the color, one of the sliders will be selected in the dialog box (red or yellow 90% of the time). Use the slider to alter the tone of that color. For instance, I moused over the gentleman's face and PS selected the red slider. I adjusted it for the best detail and tone for the man's face (since this is one of the most important aspects of the photo), and once I had that to my satisfaction, I used the other sliders to see how it altered the tones and contrast of the rest of the image. Experiment.
2)Make an adjustment layer for curves. I used a very slight S-curve to boost the overall contrast.
3)With the curves layer selected, merge the layers by doing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E. This will put a new layer with the original and curves layers above the curves layer. Now do filter>other>high pass. Set the radius fairly high. It depends on the size of the image. For instance, your image that I copied off the web page required a radius of 10. For 21 megapixel shots from my 5DII, I might use a radius of 50 - 80. Basically, you should start at 1 and move the slider up just until the image looks very "halo-ish". Don't overdo it too much or it won't have the proper effect. Once you have it, set the opacity of this layer to 30% - 50%, then set the blending mode to either Overlay (first choice), Soft Light, Or Hard Light. Once again, experiment. This will make a dramatic local contrast adjustment that will give it that "gritty" feel.

Here's another example:



That's my b/w conversion process. Hope it helps!

It probably only took you a few minutes but that process sounds like it would take me hours. I will show this to a friend and have him walk me through it. Did you use photoshop to blur the background in the image above? If so, is that a lens blur? Thanks alot!

[givtu]

It probably only took you a few minutes but that process sounds like it would take me hours. I will show this to a friend and have him walk me through it. Did you use photoshop to blur the background in the image above? If so, is that a lens blur? Thanks alot!

It's actually easier than it sounds, and I programmed the steps in an action, so it goes even faster when I do it. It takes me about 2 minutes to do the process I shared with you.
The background blur is the result of using a fairly shallow depth of focus (f/4) on a full frame camera.

[bswallace1000]

It's actually easier than it sounds, and I programmed the steps in an action, so it goes even faster when I do it. It takes me about 2 minutes to do the process I shared with you.
The background blur is the result of using a fairly shallow depth of focus (f/4) on a full frame camera.

I didnt ask the question very well. I was wondering if the background was shallow DOF or from post production but you still answered what I was asking. Thanks

[-g-]

I prefer the B&W but think it could be cropped down quite a bit. You'd lose most of that distracting background.

[bswallace1000]

I prefer the B&W but think it could be cropped down quite a bit. You'd lose most of that distracting background.

I feel if I crop it to much it will start to look like any other snapshot.

[-g-]

I feel if I crop it to much it will start to look like any other snapshot.

What's your subject? What's added by the parked car?

I did a quick 13 x 9 crop here. You might even try square.

[Sam|McGuire]

I processed this with Nik Soft Viveza
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg32/dynastar666/trainstation.jpg?t=1232465929

And this was processed using Silver Efex Pro
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg32/dynastar666/trainstationBW.jpg?t=1232466110

[tonydee]

That Silver Efex Pro has done an incredible job! Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Tony