$2 Portrait in B/W

[alezarate]

I decided to emulate Thomas Hawk's $2 portrait project today. It was a nice experience, and I'll be getting my model prints tomorrow (which should help me amend a big mistake: not learning his name).

After reviewing the shot in-camera, I decided it would probably look good in black & white. Playing a little with the channel mixer in GIMP, I got this. ¿What do you think about the b&w conversion?



Canon EOS 450D (Rebel XSi)
EF 18-55 IS at 55mm
f/5.6
1/2500 sec
ISO 400

[bradzo66]

Hey I just checked this out and really like the idea ,I hate taking peoples photographs so it will help me overcome this , and hopefully will help some people feel some good in their lives , I will be joining the Flickr group . This image of yrs has some real feel to it and I like it a lot well done and thanks for bringing this to my attention . All the best .

[WooD]

I think its a really strong image. I like the texture, and the sharpness of his hair, and beard.

I'd like to have seen more whites of the eyes, and I'd remove the object coming out of his left ear.

[alezarate]

Bradzo66: You're welcome, and thanks for the compliments.

WooD: Thanks. I'll play with it a bit more to try and give the eyes better contrast. What would you do to improve the background? Blur, clone, something else?

[WooD]

The area where the white object is, is a near solid black. I'd just paint it out.

I tried it, and it looked good.

[mflorin]

Hi,
I think it is a really strong image.
I'd suggest adding some more light, the subject seems a bit too dark to properly catch the eye.

[mauikay]

i love this!

probably because the sun is on the left side of the model... that is why the eyes were not properly lighted due to shadows of his eyebrows... make him face the sun and bring an umbrella to diffuse the sunlight (it it is too bright) so that he will not smirk...

[alezarate]

WooD: I'll try painting it. Thanks.

mflorin: I deliberately made it dark and contrasty while mixing channels. I'm not sure I'd mess with that, but if I try again I'll experiment a bit.

mauikay: It's kinda hard to bring out umbrellas or other large equipment for portraits taken on the street while on the way to work...

[Wombat]

Crop it.
Take a little from the top and a little from the bottom, this will really bring our eyes into his face.
Great shot

1/2500 sec ? that is extremely fast.
Do you have prime lens ? They are very good at this type of photography (f/1.4 or f/1.8)

The 2 dollars portrait is a absolutely great idea and i wish we all can do something to other people who found them self in difficult life situations, a specially at his hard economical times we all experiencing. I think that i will do the same thing here in Melbourne.
http://thomashawk.com/2008/06/introd...art-of-my.html

[alezarate]

I actually had a 50mm 1.8 on me, but not on the camera (I took the camera and a couple lenses to work as I had to take a pic of my boss... but in the end I just used the kit zoom for its versatility). It was a really spontaneous shot, so I didn't even consider changing the lens, even though I agree that the nifty fifty would've been a great choice for this kind of portrait.