Maestro and His Shadow

It looks like this subject is turning into a series: black and white portraits of Maestro!

In the other photos in this "series", I saw him in one of his usual spots and took a picture. In this case, however, he was kind enough to pose for me, and wait there until I was done composing the shot. So, I suppose that makes him my first official model...

The color conversion was done in LAB mode. I used a couple of layers with different blending modes (partial overlay) to increase contrast, and also selected the carpet with the lasso tool to darken it with Curves. Maestro's nose and left eye were much too dark, so a little dodging was necessary.

As always, I welcome your comments.

f/6.7, 43 mm., ISO 400, 1/90 sec.

Lamp and Sky

Here is another photo that has been subjected to selective desaturation, with yellow as the only color spared.

The B&W was obtained by desaturating the red channel, as it offered the most interesting contrast in the clouds. The yellow of the bulb was isolated by Photoshop with the "Select color range" command.

I also added a mirror gradient layer (black and transparent) to frame the shot a little more and darken the mood.

This photo was actually taken in broad daylight. Here is the original for comparison.



f/22, 24 mm., ISO 200, 1/60 sec.

Face-off

Even though Liliana's face cannot be seen in this photo, I think it speaks volumes about her and Maestro's relationship...

The picture started out too dark, so a couple of adjustment layers were necessary. I decided against reducing the noise, as it seems to me it adds to the mood. Another "mood booster" is the transparent vignette that helps to draw the viewer into the scene.

f/4.5, 45 mm, ISO 800, 1/60 sec.

Le regard

Here is yet another photo of Liliana, a profile this time. The light turned out perfect for this picture, even though I had nothing to do with it: Lillie was looking out the window at the time, in the late afternoon.

The editing consisted of a conversion to B&W by only saving the lightness channel in LAB mode, followed by one Curves layer. Contrast was further enhanced by a second layer of the picture set to a partial Soft Light blending mode. I also cropped it, as the original was a landscape layout and made the composition uninteresting.

f/5.6
55 mm
1/90 sec.
ISO 400

Evening Power Lines: second stock sale

I just had another photo of mine downloaded at Dreamstime. It is actually one of the first pictures that I ever planned to submit to a stock agency.

Since this was the beginning of my learning about photography, post-processing was minimal: just a little color adjustment in LAB mode.

ISO 200
f/4.5
26 mm
1/90 sec.

The Barn

This is a photo of a barn that I see regularly. I like its straight lines, proportions, and the fact that it sits isolated in the middle of a field. All of these characteristics help it reflect the seasons and changing weather patterns without distraction. I will probably post many different views of this barn. My family thinks it humorous that it is one of this Parisian's favorite buildings!

I had a look in mind for this photo as I started editing it that I did not know how to obtain. I have seen it a lot and reminds me a little of what Ansel Adams did. I experimented quite a bit and ended up with 9 layers in Photoshop. They include the usual Levels, Curves, Desaturation, but also a couple of duplicate layers with different blending modes (Overlay, Darken), and a red photo filter. I even had to isolate the sky from the field and building to process them separately.

Well... I think I got close. What do you think?

ISO 200
f/16
26 mm
1/250 sec.