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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/100 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Man of Confidence
Confidence in my photo-processing technique?

While at the Shimyouin Temple the other day, I intended to ask permission to take a portrait of the priest and his wife. To prepare, I asked Paul Barr to stand in for a quick test shot in the dim entry room, with soft light splashing in through the door from the gloomy downpour outside.

When I got home, instead of deleting the test shot I started to play with it a bit in Lightroom, and found a fairly powerful image emerge as I pushed it toward a hard-edged black & white (heavy on the blacks, contrast, and clarity).

It reminded me of another test shot, this time from April's “Mountain Play with Monet and Friends”, when I asked Arthur to hold my WhiBal for a quick light test. I have no idea why I started to play with this one in Lightroom in the first place (normally I just use them to take a white-balance reading that I can then apply to the other photos taken in the same light), but I find something about it really striking...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cherished
( pretend he's holding, say, a great-grandfather's pocket watch )

This kinds of post processing isn't really my normal style, though I've sort of done it occasionally (here, here, here, and, of course, the camo duck). I'll probably try it a bit more, though I'll have to be careful not to overdo it.

Kyoto friend Stéphane Barbery uses this style often, to great effect, such as these Jidai Matsuri shots from a few years ago. If you watch his Flickr stream, you'll often see sets of captivating B&W come by.

Continued here...