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Katy (Film Noir)

Gregg Simpson

New member
Recent shoot with my daughter. B&W conversion in Nik Silver Efex Pro2, I very much like the Film Noir filter.

5D3_5310-Edit-1.jpg

Canon EOS 5D mkiii EF70 - 200mm f/2.8L
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Recent shoot with my daughter. B&W conversion in Nik Silver Efex Pro2, I very much like the Film Noir filter.

5D3_5310-Edit-1.jpg


Canon EOS 5D mkiii EF70 - 200mm f/2.8L


Greg,

I do think I like the effort to make something noticeable and attractive in B&W. This picture of your daughter is certainly unusual enough to grab my attention! I'm new to this style - high key with zones of full gray scale in part of her face. There's little detail in the foreground to allow me to know whether she's in a field or holding a wedding bouquet and you haven't given a title that provides this context.Unless there's some specific artistic reasoning, the lack of sparkle in here eyes removes one of the key indicators of a life force in a person. That may be part of an artistic design, so I make no judgement. Again, the emphasis of freckles as black spots, is rarely seen like this. My habit is to individually assign colors to tones so that these skin details are very subtle, again a personal choice.

I'm game for unusual expression. However, without seeing siblings of the picture's style and motif, I'm a little lost. Do you have any more of this workflow and sensibility? It's often a matter of us catching up with where you are operating. Then, your work is registered as a certain style and it will be read and appreciated in that context. Perhaps this presentation is typical of a favorite photographer you like to pay homage too.

Asher
 

Charlotte Thompson

Well-known member
Greg

I absolutely LOVE this_ everything about it! Light, shadows, the catch _everything
I am a huge fan of creative work anything just about that is out of the ordinary and this work of yours is amazing!

Charlotte_
 

Gregg Simpson

New member
5D3_5310-Edit.jpg

First please accept my apologies for the late reply, been away on holiday!

Thanks for you comments and thoughts, the inspiration for this shot was some work I saw produced by David Bailey of the actress Twiggy many years ago.

My photo of Katy was taken in a field of long grass the sun was quite high and I was using a speedlight mounted on a stand as a fill, fired by Pocket Wizard's, for some reason (dead batteries) it didn't fire for this shot which left me with very flat lighting on her face and very strong accent lighting the resulting image was heading for the reject bin until I converted it to B&W and realised its potential! Goes to show you should never bin any shots until you have explored all avenues!

Katy loves writing (fantasy and horror mainly) it was this dark side I was trying to capture with the hard stare and cold expression, not having the highlights in the eyes has added to the mysterious persona I think.

Gregg
 
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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Glad you're back, Greg!

The picture in B&W has it's own smokiness and femininity that works well for me. Yes, the color is rather flat, but you could still work on it, if you were driven! Try overlaying the B&W version and different blends in photoshop.

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Yes, there is that "Twiggy Look. We have "The Quartets" a British version of Shakespearean adaption with setting in Twiggies time and a Beatles band, very MOD! So I thought of you daughter in this B&W picture of your daughter. So I revisited and it's good again!

Asher
 
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