El cheapo strikes again! B&W headshots..

[bfitzgerald]

I have had some complaints that I was not posting any images (sony ones), or taking part in photo related activities, from some forum members

So here we go with a few casual shots, taken with the A200 and 50mm f1.7. Light source, energy saver bulb, jpegs with only a resize and sharpen. I have not been too fond of the A200 jpegs, rather soft at high ISO. But I decided to do some anyway..bashed up the contrast to +2 on the creative b&w style. WB in colour would be a nightmare, I prefer mono for people shots anyway. The jpeg softness not a huge issue with shots like this, I dislike sharp people photos. I do have the raw files, as I shot raw+jpeg, but jpegs fine for this soft of work, if you like loads of details at high ISO, raw is def your best bet..but certainly usable, IMO anyway. High ISO NR off too.











I am fairly pleased with the results straight out of camera, adding contrast helps add some punch, a little + exp compensation helps lift up the tones a touch too.

[Birma]

Hi Barry - I like the style of these shots very much. #1 is my favourite of the 3. I am interested to have a go at something similar and wanted to check your approach if you don't mind sharing. The "B&W", "contrast +2", and the "+ exp compensation" were all added in-camera? The ISO was 1600? I have always stayed away from using the in-camera processing in favour of PP, for no good reason really.

Of course, you realise that now you have started posting pictures, people will just want more and more .

[KevinBarrett]

The kid is adorable, but you can never tell him that...only when he's a senior in high school and that third picture is in his yearbook. The compositions are wonderful, strong and intimate. I love working with the 50/1.7 for its perfect interpersonal distance...B&W just makes the combo even more workable. The third shot, by the way, is absolutely my favorite.

[bakubo]

Glad to see you posting some photos here! All 3 are just wonderful, but #3 is my favorite. You caught a wonderful expression on his face.

[Winston]

Very nice indeed.

[Dr. Harout]

Wonderful.
I'll go for the first and second/

[Dusty]

I love that expression on #3, but they're all cute!

Dusty

[Greg Beetham]

Good shots BF.
Greg
ps. I've never been a great fan of in your face type shots, always seemed too me to be an invasion of someones personal space, but with kids it seems to work quite ok.

[aster]

Hi Barry,

I like the transition of expressions through the series -from angelic to evilisly angry- but I still enjoyed the first and the third a little more.

So, when does the next round of photos arrive?

Yildiz

[bfitzgerald]

Thanks for the response. I admit I am pretty happy with them overall, of course I got a few duffers..kids are unpredictable at times.
I have always found it hard to do non close up people shots, maybe I will try some more on that one. It's more a case of struggling with what to put in, and keep out. Hence I went in pretty close, might not be so easy to do with adults..kids are just natural.

Interesting thing is small Barry (yeah original lol!) asked me to take some photos, so I gave it a bash. I do go through periods where I don't take many photos, and then I sometimes get fired up a bit, just the way I am really..maybe the spontaneous thing. I think I proved two things to myself, ist..you can get decent results out of camera (+2 contrast and up the exposure a touch to avoid flat tones), even jpeg. And second..that a fancy light setup and top notch stuff are not essential to getting decent shots, I have never been attracted to studio work, I much prefer doing photos in a natural environment, this was in the kitchen! Colour would have been hard, due to the low kelvin light..daylight, will try some more out shortly..see how the A200 does on that one

I am more and more avoiding the use of flash, unless it's really needed, it would have killed the atmosphere on these photos.

If anyone has any ideas, thoughts..or people shots to share, do fire away. I would be very interested in seeing some, I continue to learn..as do we all.

[KevinBarrett]

I tend to frame up my portraits pretty similarly. This was shot with one of my "el cheapo" lenses, the 70-210/4, which was got for $172. Available light was used in a local Starbucks chain, 75mm, f/4, 1/125 sec., ISO 640. Colors are straight out of the camera, only sharpening applied.

[Greg Beetham]

My ISP has sort of "lost" a bunch of my photo's somewhere, so I had too re-upload some.

I don't know if flash is allowed in this thread, but I have a habit of using flash for the impromtu type kid candids, mainly because they aren't usually staged and you never know what surroundings and lighting conditions you are going to be confronted with.
This is one that was sort of staged in the end...my grandniece stuck her head around the corner and pulled a funny face, as I grabbed for the camera she disappeared, when I called out "do that again" she had a more serious face the second time...oh well, can't win em all, but I still like it because of the reflection.
(She had swimming pool eyes at the time, having just spent about an hour in there)
Greg
A100 ISO200 KM18-200 @ 130mm f6.3 1/125sec contrast 0 saturation 0 sharpness 0, 5600HSD, ADI Fill flash, Anti red eye Off.

[bakubo]

I love these kinds of threads that get people to all post some shots! I have many photos I could post, but I decided to go back to my early days of photography.

This photo is my younger brother when he was 6 years old in 1974 and I was 17. I had only had my Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL for less than a year and was shooting as much as I could afford to (film and processing in those days! ). This was made with the Mamiya/Sekor 55mm f1.8 lens and using Plus-X (I think):



Here is a self-portrait I made when I was 17 using the same camera and lens, but using Tri-X:

[bfitzgerald]

Interesting shots..
Seems some folks like colour, more than I do. I will do flash, but only if I have no choice

That last one is kinda scary though, could work great for a horror film poster!

I had a play about in C1 4, picked a 70's film style, and a vignette, just a casual shot of small man doing his Terminator impression

I still prefer b&w overall though

[KevinBarrett]

I do like B&W a lot. There was a period, before I came to this forum, when I got so fed up with the chromatic aberration in my kit lens that I shot only B&W with it. It forced me to consider overall contrast and composition to separate my subject from the background. Texture can be used as well as DOF. I think I went back to shooting in color again when I realized that I'd started avoiding the kit lens altogether...I had relied mainly on my 50/1.7 and my 70-210/4, which both have excellent color!

This last picture is cute, is that a straight-forward flash?