Another Day, Another Beard

[dubaiphil]

Slightly more subtle processing on this shot. C&c more than welcome. Carl Zeiss 2/35 was used at f5

[Donald]

In this one, the figure doesn't 'pop' out from the background as much as in some of your other work. That is just a statement of my reading of it, as opposed to any comment that this is a good or a bad thing. I think it is very appropriate that, for some images we do seek to create more of 'blend' with the background.

What is being demonstrated here, as with others you have posted, is the mastery of skin tones. In every case the skin tones are wonderfully presented.

[dubaiphil]

Thanks Donald.

With bearded guys I want to get more of the head as sharp as possible which means stopping down a little. This was at f5 compared to f3.2 for the onion seller. The Zeiss still blends the background nicely but doesn't pop so much. The light was a little flatter on this visit so the man's face wasn't glowing as much as Mr Onion Seller either, so I thought I'd keep it more neutral when converting. It's tricky as if you try to move the subject to a better position for a better background you lose the moment and have no hope of getting a decent shot, so you have to take what you can get.

Micro contrast on the Zeiss is fantastic, which helps greatly with B&W conversions. I was looking through my B&W street and environmental portraits last night after posting these and found that around 40% are with this little lens which surprised me a little. Pointing to a future with a rangefinder and Summicron for some of my work perhaps!

I wish!!!