COSTA PORTRAIT

[FUJI]

My new photographer mate and I meet up, with cameras, or, pics and books to swap every so often, he is a retired Pro togger, he is teaching me more of the techie side, whilst I drive him nuts with my total lack of numerical ability, and my enthusiasm for creativity and rule breaking.

I guess we must look like the photography version of.........Compo and Foggy, in .....Last of the Summer Wine...........he is keen to learn about my approach to Street Photography, and how to appear in public with a camera and not be noticed........we also are known to wind the Costa staff up.

I post both colour and mono versions for your comments and appraisal.

Best viewed LARGE.............Click on Pics:

FUJI

[NannyFerret]

I didn't know there were any rules to break   but your pics always work well, rules or no rules.

Both excellent!

[Leon]

can i really be honest??

[FUJI]

can i really be honest??

YES. ????

FUJI. ( puzzled)

[Leon]

I think they way over processed fuji, the colour better than the mono, just my opinion, would you post the one before the editing?

[FUJI]

THANKS Leon,

RAW files are unsharpened and contain all the photographic info regarding tones, saturation, levels, curves, exposure etc.......post processing teases out the best characteristics depending upon the creative mind of the photographer, in exactly the same way that users of both glass plates, then film did in the Darkroom, from the earliest days of photography......

........Ansel Adams, was a master of darkroom techniques, as were most keen film camera users,.....also, please don't forget, that you are seeing only the much reduced for The Web JPEGS.

I used to think like you when I shot only JPEGS .......that way the processing is done for you in camera and is beyond your control......I had to be dragged screaming and kicking into the realms and mysteries of Shooting then Processing my RAW creations.

I know that it has been said that.......

You make a photograph.............not just take one.

Your point is a good one for open debate on here, so come on folks......where do you your creative thoughts lie?

FUJI

[Black Pearl]

Something very wrong with the mono one Fuji, the lacks have blocked and spread.

The colour one is fine, though I personally don't like the faked blur or the lightened eyes, but the mono is decidedly odd.

[FUJI]

Cheers BP,

As with many casual photographs like this, the background was intrusive, I only had my LX5 compact with me so DOF wasn't as controllable, hence the blur......... I take on board what you say about the eyes......

I have been experimenting with my mono processing of late, I deliberately knocked them right down here, to add a bit of drama, to an otherwise fairly neutral shot.

I will post the untouched original RAW files reduced as JPEGS, and then revise both lots of processing to see what else I can tease out ...

Cheers!

FUJI

[Barbara]

Something very wrong with the mono one Fuji, the lacks have blocked and spread.

The colour one is fine, though I personally don't like the faked blur or the lightened eyes, but the mono is decidedly odd.

With BP 

The Mono just isn't up to your usual standard..Doesn't seem to have any depth to me But can't really say what is amiss with it

[ChrisLumix]

I think that face isn't sufficiently strong to make a good mono conversion, but the colour original is great : if you look closely, there's a whole palette of pinks, magentas, blues, greys, purples there - an artist's dream. Lose that (with the mono) and you lose everything .. at least in this particular case I think you do. So the colour wins hands down, for me.

[Korky]

In spite of what the others have said, I really like the warmth of the colour version. I think it suits the subject very well and I don't feel it's over-processed at all.

 

My only (very minor) niggle is the highlight from the wedding ring - it just draws the eye too much and after a while it seemed to take over the image.

 

Other than that............. nice work!

 

Korky

[FUJI]

Thank you Korky, Chris and Blackrox.........................I have made minor adjustments to the colour version.....I will scrub the mono for now..........I am having another crack at the colour one...

 

In the meantime, here is the original totally untouched except for reducing then saving as a JPEG for posting here:

 

You can see exactly why I darkened then blurred the background, there was no faffing about with settings, we were in the middle of a photography conversation, when I spotted the potential for the shot, I fired the shutter twice from just off the tabletop before he realised ;-)

 

 

Best viewed LARGE.....Click on Pic:

 

 

FUJI

 

 

[ChrisLumix]

I think that marks the difference between a pro and a keen amateur - the pro would have less inclination to 'think outside the box', IMO.