The nut cracker

jamaiz

Hi folks,
I haven't done much street or pj shooting to date. I only recently starting to focus in on the subject. I'm here to learn and very much welcome candid critique.

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bfjr

Welcome
A well know Symbol

jamaiz

Hi Benjamin
Thanks for the welcome. Yes it is quite the universal hand signal. It was a very frequente sighting during our trip.

rutt

What about straight up B&W:

DaddyO

Personally I think it's a very nice photo. A friendly candid. He sees you,
doesn't mind, and fires you off a warm smile and peace sign. Nice.
While the bw works the color image tells me so much more & quickly.
For instance the nutcrackers hanging on the storage racks. Would have
taken me a wee bit to work those out. Other things get lost in the bw. Like
the colorful labeling on the can under the silver bowl left basket. Or the
general flavor of the bike itself. Some examples.

Has someone started a thread specifically for images where the hand
gesture with the peace symbol is used? That would be interesting to
see as a stand alone. I think. D

jamaiz

rutt wrote:

What about straight up B&W:

Hi rutt
I do always take a look at the B&W conversion when processing. I seem to settle mainly for sepia. Sepia just feels a little warmer and softens harsh light, with more pleasing tones. But it depends on the light. I have done a little portrait work for friends and when presented with a choice they do tend to lean towards sepia too, but not always.

With this image, I find that the b&w makes the light on the left shoulder too harsh leading to a loss of detail. Is this okay in street and pj photography? How do other feel and think about this?

jamaiz

DaddyO wrote:

Personally I think it's a very nice photo. A friendly candid. He sees you, doesn't mind, and fires you off a warm smile and peace sign. Nice.
While the bw works the color image tells me so much more & quickly.
For instance the nutcrackers hanging on the storage racks. Would have
taken me a wee bit to work those out. Other things get lost in the bw. Like
the colorful labeling on the can under the silver bowl left basket. Or the
general flavor of the bike itself. Some examples.

Has someone started a thread specifically for images where the hand
gesture with the peace symbol is used? That would be interesting to
see as a stand alone. I think. D

Hi DaddyO,
He wasn't too happy at first. He seen my looking at him and had a bit of a scowl on his face. Then I smiled and lifted up my camera for him to see, so he smiled and posed and allowed me the shot. It is always cool to connect with a stranger like this. I have similar experience in Mexico about 5 years ago. I will have to pull the image out of the archive.

I too found the sepia and the colour versions lend themselves to 2 different focal points. The cage of walnuts and the crackers definitely draw the eye in the colour version. The sepia lends to the gentleman expression and first provides human contact. I think the B&W provides the same human contact but the highlights on the left shoulder are competing for my attention.

rutt

jamaiz wrote:

Hi rutt
I do always take a look at the B&W conversion when processing. I seem to settle mainly for sepia. Sepia just feels a little warmer and softens harsh light, with more pleasing tones. But it depends on the light. I have done a little portrait work for friends and when presented with a choice they do tend to lean towards sepia too, but not always.

With this image, I find that the b&w makes the light on the left shoulder too harsh leading to a loss of detail. Is this okay in street and pj photography? How do other feel and think about this?

Of course, there are no hard and fast rules. I find that either color or B&W let the image show through best. Other in-between sort of techniques (sepia, selective color, partly desaturated) make a statement of their own and steal the show from the image itself. This is a conservative position, but then my tuxedo and tie are black and I wear a white shirt (when my wife makes me go to that kind of thing.)

You can soften the harsh light in PS without reverting to sepia.

jamaiz

rutt wrote:

Of course, there are no hard and fast rules. I find that either color or B&W let the image show through best. Other in-between sort of techniques (sepia, selective color, partly desaturated) make a statement of their own and steal the show from the image itself. This is a conservative position, but then my tuxedo and tie are black and I wear a white shirt (when my wife makes me go to that kind of thing.)

You can soften the harsh light in PS without reverting to sepia.

I did take a look at soften the B&W harsh light in PS and NX2. I really didn't like the tonal change when I bent the curve. It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the image. I think that if I was to use the B&W, I would leave it as you showed it in your above post