Portrait of a Gent

[Sergio M.]

I got into a conversation with this man down at Market Square. He kindly agreed to a photograph before we parted ways.

I cropped close to remove background and focus on his face. I toned down the bright areas but anymore and it started to look funky.

It was a quick grab shot, but since I haven't seen him again, I'm glad I got what I did.

Sergio



40 mm, f/8.0, 1/320, ISO-1600

[Shadowman]

Nicely capture and converted.

[IzzieK]

I like this one, Sergio...even the scene in his sunglasses looks good too. Can you or will you please tone down the bright spot on the left side and clone out that woman too? Just thought...

[DEAN01]

Very well done, Sergio.

[Sergio M.]

Nicely capture and converted.

John,

Thanks. I do appreciate your comment.

Sergio

[Sergio M.]

I like this one, Sergio...even the scene in his sunglasses looks good too. Can you or will you please tone down the bright spot on the left side and clone out that woman too? Just thought...

Izzie,

Thank you.

Yes, I did try and tone down the bright area on the left side. It doesn't look right if I go too far. Cloning I have not tried, and is something to look into. Both of these issues are something I should have gotten right at capture. Unfortunately, I was rushed for time, but should I have a similar opportunity in the future, I'll hopefully get it right.

Sergio

[Sergio M.]

Very well done, Sergio.

Dean,

Thanks for taking a look and your comment.

Sergio

[IzzieK]

Sergio, I uploaded your image to my computer yesterday morning while resting and I loaded it in Photoshop. I cropped it on the LHS instead of cloning the woman and it worked too. Then I lowered down the highlights. It works.
Just letting you know. I did not upload it here because it made me very tired already. (Sorry...I bombed out last night and cannot even get myself to go to the internet...)

Izzie,

Thank you.

Yes, I did try and tone down the bright area on the left side. It doesn't look right if I go too far. Cloning I have not tried, and is something to look into. Both of these issues are something I should have gotten right at capture. Unfortunately, I was rushed for time, but should I have a similar opportunity in the future, I'll hopefully get it right.

Sergio

[John 2]

The bright spots are a slight problem but a very nice portrait none the less Sergio.

[Sergio M.]

Sergio, I uploaded your image to my computer yesterday morning while resting and I loaded it in Photoshop. I cropped it on the LHS instead of cloning the woman and it worked too. Then I lowered down the highlights. It works.
Just letting you know. I did not upload it here because it made me very tired already. (Sorry...I bombed out last night and cannot even get myself to go to the internet...)

Ok, Izzie, when you get a chance post it into the thread so I can take a look at it.

Sergio

[Sergio M.]

The bright spots are a slight problem but a very nice portrait none the less Sergio.

John,

Thank you. Your opinion and comment is much appreciated.

Sergio

[RBSinTo]

Sergio,
Very nice street shot.
Yes, you might tone down the bright spots but regardless, it is an excellent informal portrait.
Robert

[pnodrog]

Great face with good tones but I find the background too distracting.

Have done a quick edit to try and soften and tone the background down. Lifted the eyes a bit as well.

[Sergio M.]

Sergio,
Very nice street shot.
Yes, you might tone down the bright spots but regardless, it is an excellent informal portrait.
Robert

Robert,

Thank you. I'm inspired by your street photography, so your opinion is much appreciated.

Sergio

[Sergio M.]

Great face with good tones but I find the background too distracting.

Have done a quick edit to try and soften and tone the background down. Lifted the eyes a bit as well.

Paul,

Thank you for your time. A successful edit. You certainly got rid of the bright areas. Also changes the mood a bit, makes him look more fierce.

My only concerns with this edit are parts of his hair and beard which by necessity got lopped off a bit as well as the toning of the bright areas which I know are due to problems at capture and not the edit itself. Other than that, well done. I now see what can be accomplished and will keep it in mind for future reference. Of course, I will definitely try and get it right in camera in order to avoid the necessity in PP.

If you have a chance, could you give me a quick rundown on how you went about it?

Thanks again.

Sergio

[pnodrog]

Hi Sergio,

In photoshop duplicated the layers and on the top layer I very roughly cloned the adjacent background close to the face over the face edge and sunglasses - this prevents odd artifacts around the face when the lens blur filter is applied to soften the background. Lowered both the brightness and contrast of the layer. Formed a layer mask to mask out the face in the top layer.(This was done fairly quickly and I would take more care for a final image).

Dropped down to bottom layer (now only the face used in image) and dodged the eyes a bit (dodge set to highlights) and did a final tweak of curves.

Certainly trying to avoid a bright and high contrast background when taking the shot is the best approach.

[Sergio M.]

Hi Sergio,

In photoshop duplicated the layers and on the top layer I very roughly cloned the adjacent background close to the face over the face edge and sunglasses - this prevents odd artifacts around the face when the lens blur filter is applied to soften the background. Lowered both the brightness and contrast of the layer. Formed a layer mask to mask out the face in the top layer.(This was done fairly quickly and I would take more care for a final image).
Thanks, Paul.

Dropped down to bottom layer (now only the face used in image) and dodged the eyes a bit (dodge set to highlights) and did a final tweak of curves.

Certainly trying to avoid a bright and high contrast background when taking the shot is the best approach.

Thanks, Paul.

[NorthernFocus]

Interesting looking gent for sure and perfect for B/W conversion. Nicely done.

[Sergio M.]

Interesting looking gent for sure and perfect for B/W conversion. Nicely done.

Yes, Dan, he was a very interesting gent. We had a few good laughs together.
Thanks for viewing and commenting.

Sergio