'Anatoly (Tolya)'

This is Anatoly (Tolya) a singer, who with his sons,often can be found

on weekends in front of Kyiv's main train station. He'll sing you a

song for a small price if you wish. Your ratings, critiques and

observations are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very

critically, or wish to make a remark, please submit a helpful and

constructive comment; please share your photographic knowledge to help

improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! john

This photo was meant to show more dark than most to emphasize the various points of lightness and the contrasts, e.g., his right eye and beard.

john

John (Crosley)

love his expression...the B/W processing I think is very good...the textrue of his skin contrasted against those long beard hairs just perfectly straight and white...and the nice catch light....Just an interesting character and a really stellar capture...perfect DOF IMO - I have as a beginner really struggled to get the DOF right...seems like more of the time lately I shoot a bit too shallow - if this were my shot the nose would have not had that CRISP detail in skin texture...would have basically ruined the shot...bravo...Ellery

This is the third try; two fell flat because of not enough contrast and darkness.

Actually, the Nikon in-camera NEF software set at -1 stop, yielded something pretty similar to this, but I worked this up in Adobe CS5 myself, first using Adobe Camera Raw, latest version.

I worked first specially on the right eye, which in the original capture was almost black, and which made the photo unviewable.

I also worked on contrast (but not in NEF, only in Photoshop), then it went through two stages of sharpening, after conversion to B&W using a plug-in, which performed marvelously.

I accept your evaluation; it's some of the best post processing I have done with my newfound skills. 

I was on the street at ISO 500 in the heavy cloud cover in dark mid afternoon, partly in shade from a building, and so was stuck with using f5, but it proved a good choice.

I'd have preferred to use ISO 200, the best for my camera's detail, but that was not possible. 

This is on the street, too, with people passing, much hubbub around, etc.  I can make a 'studio' in the midst of Kyiv's busiest place, so long as I can isolate my subject by close cropping.

By the way, I couldn't for eight years begin to do this kind of work so well, so if as a 'beginner' you are anywhere near this in your image editing skills, you are ages ahead of me in that skill.

Best to you, and thanks for the very kind comment.

john

John (Crosley)

uhh...oh no...my editing skills are very elementary in comparison....I pretty much at this point use only capture NX2 for mainly global stuff, a bit of local stuff like unsharp mask in key areas....my b/w conversions so far are only done in capture NX2 and it is I know not as powerful and good as using photoshop....

I think I am reaching a point where photoshop skills will really help some of my images...the most I do is a bit of photoshop elements magic healing brush, cloning, etc...mostly I have been focused on creating what images I can with what time I have doing the daddy thing (18 month old son) and picking up whatever progress I can along the way...photoshop and more in post processing is on deck though....I will in the next year or so start learning it more....most awesome portrait stuff Ive seen on PN do quite a bit with photoshop...

Thanks John, take care. Again, really nice shot.

You can download for free a limited time expiring copy of Photoshop CS6 (beta) from Adobe's site, which would cost hundreds or half a thousand if you bought it.

Except for big businesses with Western ties or big corporations, I don't think any Ukrainian photographer or photo business has one legitimate copy of Photoshop (except me of course).  It's part of the Russian/Ukrainian ethos; don't pay for it if you can get it for free.

When you buy, you can buy an upgrade copy if you already own a legitimate QUALIFYING copy of a previous QUALIFYING edition of Photoshop, perhaps one old enough that no one wants it anymore, but still qualifies you for the much lower price of the upgrade, versus the original full price.

Don't buy a somewhat discounted student/educator edition as I did once; it doesn't qualify you for further discounts.  You save on that edition from full price but get no further breaks.

Many members also report calling Adobe directly and getting a price break from their sales people.  If it doesn't work once, you can hang up and try again, too.

Salesmen/people have goals, and maybe they also have incentives.  You never know until you try.  Maybe they have discretion to qualify you for an 'upgrade' price even if you don't have a qualifying upgrade version, (or you 'just can't find your qualifying *older* edition because your wife inadvertently discarded it in a household move or packed it in storage or some such' ;~)))))

I do recommend Photoshop CS5 and CS6 probably can only be better when it's out of the beta phase, but CS5 is plenty good for just about any use you're likely to put it to (extended version, probably, just for good measure).

If you're going to do 3D work, then I would expect CS6 would be worth the tryout and the wait.  In any case now CS6 is a free download, but it will expire a certain time after being installed . . . .it will call the mother ship and/or your computer clock and just die, but only after first giving you a chance to BUY a full version, I am sure.

Oh, not all older editions are 'qualifying', so best to find out which are and which are not.  Beware of buying one on Craig's List or another site, said to be legitimate; it may have been disabled on Adobe's mothership computer, as stolen, copied too many times, pirated or for some other reason, even if it seems 'legitimate' and promised to be 'legitimate'.  It may even pass initial tests, then later be refused . . . . other copies may be floating around and the copy's serial number may be abused.

I hope this is helpful.

john

John (Crosley)

indeed, it is very helpful!!  I assume I will need to buy it at some point this year...I am a bit wary about it though cause I know it will require a decent amount of investment of time and study on my part...mine as well bite the bullet and get started...once I buy it, I know I will obscess about it for months in reading, tinkering, youtube, etc...damn learning curves :D

If you can find a friend to lend you or a source to download for a small fee, I recommend the Lynda.com tutorials for CS5, new features with Jan Kabili, well presented, as well as most other Lynda-com tutorials as well as almost anything basic by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals especially when presented by Scott Kelby, their guru.

Video tutorials are the best; I'd take those before anything produced by Adobe, for clarity and fast learning.  Maybe now Adobe has adopted some of those; I don't know.

I'd put my money on those, for introduction or highest level, and play each tutorial over and over and do each step as the instructor does;  they can put an hour's worth of work into two or three minutes, and if you just watch and don't simultaneously practice, you won't learn much.

That's my experience; I've never had a formal class.  Too boring.

john

John (Crosley)

thanks john...I have a question thread under the questions forum on this subject fyi...seems like many believe it may not be worth it to me, but I think it is just a matter of time before I want to learn photoshop...

Thanks for your help...I plan on trying the beta soon and starting to tinker with it at the minimum and see where I go from there...

Sharp focus. Good contrast and drama  but you over photoshoped a bit. He has no body -a face floating in space like a Cheshire Cat.

Photoshop is the platinum standard in image editing.

Many other programs are cheaper and some substantial number will do a large number of things better, but overall, when you want to do evevthing AND have tutorials AND a large number of plug-ins that really do wonderful basic things in easy sliders, etc (for above, the desaturation, for instance I used Nik plug-in that worked marvelously), then Photoshop is the program to use.

You often can get the same results and sometimes better for this or that task from other, cheaper programs, say getting samples of color for replacing skin tones, etc., as an example, but Adobe keeps adding feature after feature, and it's pretty wonderful and keeps getting better.

(they don't pay me for this)

Ultimately, if your image editing skills are to be transferable in the marketplace, they must include command of Photoshop.

That may be the kicker.

john

John (Crosley)

I thought more like the Great Oz.

A disembodied head does not to me present too much of a problem IF it's an interesting head.

Perhaps this is not so interesting to you.

In order to present anything else, since he's wearing essentially black clothes, I'd have to have included his background, which was a busy, distracting train station/Metro entrance - a jumble of people.

There's a reason when I crop so tightly.

I'm experimenting with Photoshopping for different 'looks', too, and this is just one of them.

I also probably will post some 'high key' work, too.

I like straight photography with interesting people doing interesting things with no distraction from Photoshopping, but sometimes the drama can come from skin tones, contrast, the reflection in an eyeball, etc., and an interesting face processed well; if the processing falls short, I'll keep working on it.

Those things are what I had to work with here; nothing more.

All with a hugely confusing background and uphelpful clothing and accountrements to allow me to make this more than a head shot.

Thanks for the analysis.

john

John (Crosley)

John, this is an interesting portrait!
But I do not see that this man is a singer or musician. I can see it from just your story. And I see a post-processing right on the line of the cheek.

He is not presented as a singer; that's extraneous.

I think what you see as post processing line is a collar line, but I'll look at the original, and fix it necessary.

I'm thankful for your 'eagle eye'.

Best to you Sveta.

john

John (Crosley)

I looked at the original

The line appears to be backgrond, not a post processing mark.

It's there in the unedited version.

Good observation, though.

If I had seen there might have been confusion, I might have addressed that confusion in some way to minimize confusion.

john

John (Crosley)