Two out of 1.3 billion
Jan 2, 2017 12:16:36 #
Two pupils at a rural primary school in West Bengal.
Jan 2, 2017 12:52:57 #
Graham Smith wrote:
Two pupils at a rural primary school in West Bengal.
These are two beautiful portraits their mothers would be proud to have, but we almost expect that now at your skill level and so I wonder about your setup and especially how you capture the light. I assume you move around pretty unencumbered, therefore very little gear so is it your setup, post-processing, or both, that help you achieve this look. Understand I don't do portraits except the odd few, but I'm always curious to learn from a master! Curious, S-
Jan 2, 2017 19:35:01 #
Graham Smith wrote:
Two pupils at a rural primary school in West Bengal.
Beautiful portraits, Graham, especially the first. Lovely children presented in your own unique way, which in this case gives them a serious, old fashioned school portrait look that could have come from the 30s or 40s. Amazing eyes, which rivet us. Thank you for sharing.
Jan 3, 2017 10:46:15 #
Jan 6, 2017 13:00:51 #
St3v3M wrote:
These are two beautiful portraits their mothers would be proud to have, but we almost expect that now at your skill level and so I wonder about your setup and especially how you capture the light. I assume you move around pretty unencumbered, therefore very little gear so is it your setup, post-processing, or both, that help you achieve this look. Understand I don't do portraits except the odd few, but I'm always curious to learn from a master! Curious, S-
I don't do portraits either Steve, it's just that some of my people pictures are headshots
The school where these were taken is very remote and I didn't know what to expect when I got there. For that reason, on that day, I travelled light, A D810, a 20mm f2 a 24 - 120 f4 plus a SB 800 speedlight. I very seldom use flash but one thing I did know was that the school rooms would be small and ill light with shuttered windows to keep them cool. When I said I don't often use flash the reason is that I hate the results it gives unless you use a fairly complex setup, this in the circumstances was not possible. But I had to use the SB800 on camera or get no interior shots of the children. On the flash I used the standard diffuser bounced of the walls or ceiling.
I like my pictures of people to be totally natural and spontaneous, no posing, so I work quietly moving about with as little fuss as possible. I hand hold at all times, I don't walk in and slap a tripod down and start arranging people... turn this way... move over there where the light is better. I find my shots.
I have no post-processing secret recipes, when converting to monochrome getting the colour version right is 99% of the battle. I think it is very important to have a vision for your image before you release the shutter and then stick to that vision through to the end product. If that vision doesn't work, I find another.
Jan 6, 2017 21:57:13 #
Graham Smith wrote:
...
I think it is very important to have a vision for your image before you release the shutter and then stick to that vision through to the end product. If that vision doesn't work, I find another.
I think it is very important to have a vision for your image before you release the shutter and then stick to that vision through to the end product. If that vision doesn't work, I find another.
I love it when you say "I find my shots." and there are no truer words than those above! Thank you for sharing this and you beautiful work! S-
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