Spur of the moment shot of a friend

[Kris V]

I'm not equipped for Portrait photography. I have an on-board flash, and a Speedlight, but no umbrella, softbox or what-not.
This snapshot was taken during a fund raiser for the Girl Scouts - he's the grandfather of one of the girls.
I just thought the picture would look really good in B/W, with the clutter removed.
It's still not a "Portrait" - but I think the conversion came out pretty well. (Patting myself on the back!)
Colour OOC - cropped and adjusted in LR:



BW Conversion:

[Kris V]

Title should read "Spur of the moment" - saw it to late......

[Donald]

Not all head and shoulders images of people have to be portraits. Indeed, I think it is helpful if we keep the term 'portrait' for those things that we set up and have a more formalised approach to them.

And what wonderful subject material this gentleman provides. I think there are many ways that conversion could have been made and yours is one of those. I probably would have kept the back ground and worked with it. But that's the beauty of a creative pursuit - we can take different approaches.

[pnodrog]

Have another pat on the back. The hat maybe a bit too bright but overall it has come up well.

[dubaiphil]

Of course you're equipped for portrait photography - you have a camera after all.

Just look for some soft light, see if you can get some catchlights in the eyes and remember to watch your backgrounds.

The on board flash has done what it's supposed to do here, but you have other options rather than trying to use full on flash. You could try upping the ISO - ISO1600 should be just useable on the D5000's sensor - and going without flash altogether. If you need flash you could try to bounce your on board flash. With a white piece of card you could try bouncing off the ceiling or wall - it takes a bit of contorting, but it can be done. The walls look a little tired and not too white so you've got to watch for colour casts if you're bouncing your flash, but that could create a less flat and more flattering light.

[Mike Buckley]

Indeed, I think it is helpful if we keep the term 'portrait' for those things that we set up and have a more formalised approach to them.

I think of a portrait as any photo created when the photographer and human subject conspired to create the image. All other similar images are candids. This concept came to me by way of a good friend.

Fortunately, labels are not important. Nonetheless, I think it can be helpful for the photographer to have a philosophy about that even though it doesn't matter whether the viewers agree.