Elena Bw
Black and white render of Elena
Black and white render of Elena
Read less
Read less
Aug, 2016Views
165
Likes
Awards
Great Shot
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 30 rankTop 30 rank week 3Top 20 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 2Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo of Elena was taken in a forrest near my home city of Craiova, Romania.Time
Actually, I think it was taken some time after mid-day, not the best of times to be taking pictures of people, but conditions were good.Lighting
Well, since it was the middle of the day, one might think that some nasty shadows might pop out, but the sky was cloudy, so sun interference was not an issue. The light was filtered by the trees.Equipment
Shot with a Nikon D610 and 24-70MM at 58mm/ƒ/2.8/1/100s/ISO 320Inspiration
I'm a big fan of photography, in general, but I rather enjoy portraits, in particular. I try to find expressivity on a person's face and if they agree to be shot, perfect!Editing
I think that almost all photographs look better in black and white. I sometimes feel that I'm trying to edit photos so that they have the look and feel of something from another era. I do try to keep as much detail as possible, texture on the face, lips, eyes, hair, but if all else, I am always looking for the expression, the feeling that can be taken away from the picture. I play a lot with highlights and shadows too, guiding the viewers' looks so that they can see it (the photo) as I see it. Other than this, I always have a color version corrected as best as I can (freq. separation, some shady colour grading which I should invest more time into learning :) and various tweaks to light) before switching to b&w and re-doing the lighting if needed.In my camera bag
I only have a 50 1.4G and the 24-70 f2.8 in terms of glass. I'm using a battery grip most of the times, as I feel it improves my balance with the zoom lens (which I find very versatile, albeit not exactly a 70-200, 85, 105 etc which would be better suited for these kind of photos). Other than these, I try to have at least 3 memory cards with me at all times. Bit paranoid about memory cards, to be honest.Feedback
There's nothing special about taking photos of people, unless you make it special. This makes communication important and if you are able to trigger some emotional feedback and capture it, it will make others look at it as if it's something special, because the viewers will have their own trigger when looking at the expression of the subject. Any reaction makes the photo relevant.
