And reporting from Kabul we have ...

[bobzilla]

I've been trying to get decent portraits of my friends but as with most people put in front of a camera the fake smiles and happy poses just don't sit well with me but they are that observant that candid photos are almost ipossible with this lot.

Anyway we went out to one of our local airsoft sites that our friend runs for his birthday game and I thought I'd take the camera along. Usually I take a compact into the game area with me to capture in-game photos but for once the DSLR came along to try and get something from the safezone. Shooting on continous I managed to get some have decent pictures just before they realised the camera was on them and pulled a face. It wasnt until I went back through the photos that night though that I realised I'd caught this one just before he went off on one.


Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL - 49 mm - f 5.6 - 1/640 sec - 200 iso

I ran it through Adobe Lightroom to turn it into black and white as due to the cloudcover and the fact everything he was wearing and the background were green it wasn't a very good colour photo.

As it wasn't really posed and its uncropped I think the composition isnt to bad but I've never been one that was able to getthat correct first time in teh camera anyway.

What do you guys think?

[Murtasma]

Looks very natural, the cloud cover however leaves something to be desired. Have you ever thought about burning the edges of the photo and doing this image in duotone instead of black and white? Perhaps a a sepia filter with the opacity set to around 20%. I think this photo would look great with an old look to it.

Good choice of focal length and apature. The background is nice and blurred it doesn't distract to much from the image however his shirt and the background are pretty dark. How about doing another black and white conversion but use the channel mixer to take some of the green out of his shirt then mask off the background so the background is dark but he is lighter.

[bobzilla]

I'd originally tried the pic as sepia but wasnt impressed by it and couldnt age it well enough to look convincinig.

I'll give your second idea a go over the weekend though and see how that looks.

[clockdoc]

Not bad for a quick informal portrait shot considering the lighting conditions under which you were shooting. You may want to try cropping it more closely into a vertical allowing some "breathing space" to the right of your subject. Also play with adding a small catchlight to each eye (10 or 2 o'clock position seems to work best.) Catchlights add life to the eyes. Keep shooting as I think you will have a nice collection of portraits if the others follow suits with this one. I'll be happy to help where I can.

[bobzilla]

I was getting nowhere with lightening the shirt. Just couldnt get it to look natural im afraid

I keep meaning to add some catchlights since you seeing your post clockdoc but having a 4 week old baby aroun has meant my camera/computer time has been drastically cut

I'll give it a go soon though

[clockdoc]

Depending on what shade of green the shirt and background are, you may be able to lighten it using Picasa2 and their black and white filter effect. I realize how busy you must be with a baby. 8-) Can you post the color original image or a link to it?

[bobzilla]

heres a link to the original

http://www.theapochrypha.co.uk/Picture-007.jpg

[jiminyClickit]

bobzilla,

When I read "...it wasn't a very good colour photo," of course I had to see if that was truly the case. Lucky you, it is a very good photo, even if you choose to stay with b/w. But I can't imagine not keeping original color. I understand your lack of "free time" and can assure you this could be under two hours' worth of average layer/layer/erase work, could be done in little segments of time. If you want to try, just say when and I'll list some steps that may help out. Hope you like the change.

[bobzilla]

Originally Posted by jiminyClickit

If you want to try, just say when and I'll list some steps that may help out.

When

Liking the changes. Its gave it a sort of artificial look to it that makes it stand out as well.

[ELAY]

I found the shot very compelling.

I saw the discussion re trying to get the photo old-feeling. Since you are rather occupied, thought I would see if I could get any closer to old -- though of course i am not sure that this is what you had in mind. Slight brown sepia-tint, a couple of textures laid on (crumpled paper and leather), slight vignette, very small blur, and TTV frame complete with dust. If I were doing it again i would probably lighten the underlying photo and boost contrast before doing the other stuff -- I have made your subject a bit dark.

Enjoy your baby.

EL