Thursday, November 18, 2010

November Lights

In 2009 I followed the work of Dustin Diaz on flicker (link). He did some fantastic night portraits on the streets of San Francisco, and I've been wanting to do something similar ever since. At our photo shoot with Lauren and Sarah on Sunday, we gave it a try. No, it's not San Francisco, but it's the best Galveston could offer. Above is Sarah battling the cold and rain, looking like she owns this shot. What a trooper, and what a striking image I think we created. Nikon D200, 85mm, f/1.4, 1/40 sec on a tripod, ISO 640. Light provided by Larry Patrick with an SB900 shot through a Lastolite EZYbox at 1/64 power high camera left. Two raw files processed into Photoshop (one for Sarah, the other for the background), the background was run through Neat Image to knock down the noise (oh, how I long for better ISO performance) and in a weird accident I did a hue saturation adjustment and tinted it slightly blue. I dunno, it was weird and I don't know why I did it, but I kinda liked it for the background so I went with it. It reminds me a little of the Saturday Night Live stills they show coming in and out of commercial breaks. Warmed Sarah's skin tones a bit, cropped wide cinema-like and here it is ... my homage to Dustin Diaz.

3 comments:

  1. Wonderful! I love everything about this shot -- the background, the lighting, the framing, the pose, her great earrings (well, I do wish Sarah was wearing something different, sexier). You sure got that Dustin-look going on here and this COULD be San Fran, just don't tell anyone!

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  2. Knowing what was there (from my vantage point as a VAL), I am surprised by the bokah of the lights. I really did not think you would get such a nice bokah. I really like how the lights in the background seem to form a giant arrow that is point to Sarah--as if she need something pointing to her and saying "look here." Good job. Look forward to more Dustin shots.

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  3. FANTASTIC!

    LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!

    Cheers!
    Barry

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