B&W Self portrait

[dave.turley]

Hi,
Personally I love high structure in B&W, but have not done a self portrait of any kind before. Taken in my garden with only natural light, is there a need for flash for this? I was sort of going for a warts and all portrait and trying to show 45 years of living in my face. What is your opinion of the high structure? Is it too much?





Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 4.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

[dave.turley]

59 and not a single comment?...Even an "It's crap!" would be better than nothing.

[SusanH1970]

Dave, I've looked at this a few times and have been trying to decide what it is that isn't working for me - I think I've decided that it's the background that isn't working for me. It's quite busy and fighting for attention, if that makes sense. I do see what you were going for, though. Did you do a lot of sharpening?

[dave.turley]

Hi Susan,
I put it in Silver Efex Pro. It has some high structure presets that I started with and played around from there. I wasn't really going for ultra realistic, more photo art I think. Maybe it falls between both. I get what you're saying about the background though. Here's the original.
Dave

[Barbara V]

You look so much younger in the color picture. I like both of them, though. Your eyes are very gentle.

[KUlmer]

I like the image, but it may not be the best for B&W conversion. The bricks do create busy background, but in the color version you face still stands out because of the difference in colors. In the black and white, the tones all seem to mix together and that makes it harder for the eye to settle on your face as the main point of interest. Instead my eye kept being drawn towards the white tshirt.

[suhail_dps]

dave, in my opinion all you are missing is contrast .. your b&w coversion made your face color in tonal range of background causing the viewer to get distracted. Sorry to say doesnt work for me .. just fix the background .. darker and it should be perfect shot.

[dave.turley]

Thanks for your comments everyone. I can see how, in the B&W, I fade a little into the background. Subjectivity is good huh? My lovely mrs preferred the colour one, but I found it a little mundane. Not even my new CS5 can save me..lol
Dave
....*nudges the missus*...See?...I've got gentle eyes apparently!

[Loose_Canon]

The background is def the problem. Change it or soften it. It competes too much...

[Indigo November]

I'd blur and burn the background in the BW, it is much too busy, competes with your face.
I quite like the color version though, you look much younger in color.