A few portraits in black and white

Very nice write-up! Thanks for that. I really dig how you make your subjects pop and just your style in general. I think you and Dragos Jianu are my inspiration around here well, and many, many others! Again, thanks for sharing.

Statement wrote in post #2077693
I do have one more question though. Out of curiosity, what body/lens did you use for these?

All shots taken with a Canon 10D presently. A 5D is in my future but... you know, money

Uh, the first shot is taken with my Sigma 28-70 F2.8

The shots of Erik (the fellow with hair, not the shaved head) were taken with the Canon 28-105 F3.5-4.5 . We had been drinking rather heavily though, so my focus is a little bit suspect in all of them.

The shots of myself that aren't the first shot, were taken with my Tokina 19-35 F3.5-4.5 . For 120 dollars you can't really beat it.


Lighting came from some Alienbees 320w/s flash units, and some softboxes.

I gave this a go and this is as close as I came man.... You got me stumpped for sure and I know Photoshop like the back of my hand....

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

Well, it's like I said. The biggest most important part is developing an eye for it.

My take on that shot? Too dark in the face, and as a result it clashes with the bright background. As well, you clipped the blacks a bit, try and avoid doing this at all costs, because you lose detail, and when you lose detail you lose interest.

Also, it is my prefference never to tint a high key black and white image, at the very least never make it yellowed. That works well for low key (ie, dark) shots, but in high key shots it just looks dirty.

I had a really quick go at it. Keep in mind you can only do so much editing on an edited shot, and there's more than just processing to a shot, but I think this is an improvement. The tonality of the face in your version was not bad though, you could likely do an even better job than I did because I rushed this shot, but you get the idea.

Oh and someone isn't working in 16 bit, tsk tsk. 8 bit is the devil my friend

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif'

haha well thanks for that information.

I left the tons darker because I was trying to get as close to yours as possible. Yours are not that bright if you compare them.

elTwitcho, I love your work man. I keep tabs on your thread at www.pbnation.com as much as possible. I used to really enjoy shooting people and after frequenting your thread, it makes me want to jump right back into in. I am going to check that book out that you recomended earlier. Keep up the great work!

elTwitcho wrote in post #2078952
Oh and someone isn't working in 16 bit, tsk tsk. 8 bit is the devil my friend

What do you mean?

So, this book better be good

I just bought it, lol

COKE CAN wrote in post #2079017
So, this book better be good

I just bought it, lol

I did too lol.

ArcticEOS wrote in post #2078999
haha well thanks for that information.

I left the tons darker because I was trying to get as close to yours as possible. Yours are not that bright if you compare them.

Very true, but like I said, you gotta work with the image you get out of the camera. You can't do a dark toned image, with a white background. The background will often set the tone of the image, and you work with whatever your background gets you. If you want to try a darker image, try a darker background and you'll find the overall effect is much better.

COKE CAN wrote in post #2079017
So, this book better be good

I just bought it, lol

You'll enjoy it, I loved it

ArcticEOS wrote in post #2079016
What do you mean?

You're either shooting in jpeg or in RAW and then opening it in 8 bit. If you're leaving the images as they are, either choice works great. If you're going to be working them over in photoshop, 16 bit works better because otherwise once you start manipulating the tones seperate in such a way that you have "gaps" in between. It makes the photo look a little bit choppy, and you can see it in the histogram a bit. Try it if you're open to experimenting a little, you won't see any difference at all, except when you try and go back to 8 bit, lol

COKE CAN wrote in post #2079009
elTwitcho, I love your work man. I keep tabs on your thread at www.pbnation.com as much as possible. I used to really enjoy shooting people and after frequenting your thread, it makes me want to jump right back into in. I am going to check that book out that you recomended earlier. Keep up the great work!

Excellent, I'm flattered. Thank you

nice set of shots

Rich, dude your seriosuly are one classy person. May you fully suceed in life! You gave an indepth reply to each of the posters comments/questions that just shows the kind of person you are even if it's only text. I love your work and am truly inspired to better my photography becuase of you.

HAHAHA...I'm not a stalker, i just love your work!!!!! LOL

Cheers

Mounk

Rich, this is some amazing work!! Thankyou both for sharing these and also for the BW conversion technique you mentioned. The smoking one is my favourite

awesome stuff, it's great of you to do the write up too.
thanks!