Any idea how to do this?....

I'd like to replicate this photographer's technique of PP for portraits, any suggestions?....

http://www.flickr.com …f/sets/72157623​250616410/

My guess is that look comes more from his lens choice and lighting setup than from his post technique.

Although that's some of the heaviest sharpening for the web I've ever seen without going over the top. That's about what my stuff looks like when I'm running prints but not for the web.

Looks like he does a little work with making the eyes pop as well. There was another photographer around here for a while who did kids and she had the "saucer eyes" effect down pat.

Most of the daylight outdoor shots look like wide open on an overcast day so you get the giant softbox effect with the lighting (no harsh shadows.)

nice shots and looks like fun, shooting pictures of strangers.

will-san wrote in post #11121464
My guess is that look comes more from his lens choice and lighting setup than from his post technique.

Thanks, you don't think he's using a speedlight or OCL do you?

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #11121513
Although that's some of the heaviest sharpening for the web I've ever seen without going over the top. That's about what my stuff looks like when I'm running prints but not for the web.

Looks like he does a little work with making the eyes pop as well. There was another photographer around here for a while who did kids and she had the "saucer eyes" effect down pat.

Most of the daylight outdoor shots look like wide open on an overcast day so you get the giant softbox effect with the lighting (no harsh shadows.)

Thanks for the input Jay.

In the post I'd say desaturation and highpass. In camera is a nice Prime lens on a cloudy day and some use an off camera flash.

Thanks for the link. Nice stuff there.

From a brief review, here are some guesses: He uses small aperatures to blur the background and isolate the subject. And in most cases he carefully places the subject a good distance from the background.

He shoots in broad, diffused light. Probably bright overcast skies. Notice that almost all subjects are heavily dressed in coats and sweaters. Winter skies?

In many shots there is a telltale catchlight in the eyes indicating he used fill flash. And those catchlights are at 2 o'clock or 10 o'clock, indicating off-camera flash. Yet there are no harsh flash shadows. Maybe a diffuser on the flash. Maybe a reflector?

He keeps exposure tones in the midrange. Never a blown highlight, but lots of blocked shadows. Plus excellent whitebalance. The evenness of skintones is striking. The faces are always brighter than the background, so some masked Levels or Curves?

But the most identifying aspect is in the sharpness and contrast, both of which are very high. Looks like he uses "local contrast enhancement" a lot. Maybe "high radius low amount" with Photoshop USM. Maybe some 3rd party tonemapping, like Topaz Adjust or Lucis Art. Maybe a light treatment of single-image HDR tonemapping.

Plus he has the benefit of easy access to lots of interesting people. I wander around the small cities and towns of the midwestern USA. Nobody here looks as interesting as the people in his work.

They may all be natural/available light but it is well thought out natural light. My guess is that for the night shots he is putting his subjects next to a big shop window and using that like a big soft box. I wish the images were a little bigger so you could zoom in on the eyes and make out the sources.

and Flying photog is right there is some serious sharpening going on.

Exif is there:

Canon EOS 5D
EF35mm f/2
Sigma 50/1.4
EF 135L

My guess is not too much editing: Soft lighting, added contrast in post.
Maybe local sharpening on the eyes. And as mentioned, a hellovalot sharpening overall.

Good images though.