NYC: Street Hunger

I love them.

Great shots!

Not much of a B&W fan, but I like these...

Love 'em both,
Good exposure on No.1. looks a tricky one.

Good stuff dude.

Lots to look at. Great pics!

That's awesome, Chris. I'm nuts about the tones and texture in the first one.

...and you call yourself an amateur. Anyone would be lucky to be that good of an amateur.

Great shots, love the tones in #1. How did you do the conversion?

cool shots, love #1. I like how you were able to capture all the steam/smoke in the air.

Great shots and conversions. You are on a roll.

Great shots Chris! #1 is smokin'. FM plug in?

Thank you for the comments everyone!

It was quite tricky to be honest. The sunlight made certain things very bright while the shadow casted by the stand made the exposure very uneven. I found the compromise to be on the darker side, and since the contrast was upped with the conversion, the darkness just went along with the effect.

Ronald S. Jr. wrote:
...and you call yourself an amateur. Anyone would be lucky to be that good of an amateur.

I like to think of myself as an advanced amateur.

For those interested in how I did the conversion, I did it twice for both photos, but each time using a different method. Yes Pio, the first time around was with the FM plugin (lovin' the pun by the way). The second time around was with actually altering the balance of the shot.

Here are my steps to processing:
Resize and sharpen as you wish.
Desaturate: Image -> Adjustments -> Desaturate (ctrl+shift+u) OR ctrl+u and set Saturation to -100.
Up the contrast: Image -> Adjustments -> Brightness/Contrast. This setting is obviously a bit variable, but I find myself at around +20 to +30 to really liven up the shot. These were all taken with sharp sunlight so you might find yourself going even higher. Don't make it look too digital though
Toning: Image -> Adjustments -> Color Balance (ctrl+b). With Midtones selected, I usually go for 16, 8, -16. It really depends on how lively you want your tone to be. I've found that the most subtle toning has the best effect.

Hope that helps.
Chris.

Nice capture Chris. I really like #1

I really like the first one, it is an ordinary shot made great with the light.

I don't really like the second that much. I think you should have gotten closer to the people.

Oh really, you think so? I kept the shot further back as to capture the street, people walking about, and that bike. When I shoot candids, I usually try to get an up-close shot and then a further out shot to get their environment. I'll have to keep that in mind next time.