[jeztastic]

I am learning flash and strobist techniques. I shot this with one AF280T on a tripod above left, on half power. My friend was fooling around pulling poses, but this one looks OK I think. What about the B&W conversion?

[xfloggingkylex]

I like the conversion, for me a portrait really shines with 2 things, good lighting and eyes.

The eyes here are awesome. The lighting is a little under exposed for my taste, but too over exposed (or just too evenly lit) to really get that moody feel.

Not sure if it is just the crap monitor I am on at work but there is next to no detail in his shirt.

[jeztastic]

Hmm, yes, I agree. I pulled down the blacks to try and get more moodiness, but lost detail in the shirt, as you say. I think I need to have another crack at the curves.

[Ash]

Good work Jez. Lots of character in the portrait.
Although well lit, it is almost too well balanced for the type of portrait.
Such a bold look almost lends itself toward more dramatic lighting, such as a single side diffused light with opposing kicker light behind the subject for both texture and outlining. I'd have stopped done some more to get everything of the subject in crisp focus, since there are no distracting elements anywhere else in the frame to get in the way of this portrait.

[jeztastic]

Stopped down more? It's at f/19... Does it look out of focus to you?

[Ash]

Hmmm, not sure what's happening there - just looks sharp in the eyes, and soft in other parts on my screen.
But this still could happen if you used a long focal length and short focus distance.
If not, then it's probably just the way the resized image looks on screen. You might see it differently at 100% on your own screen.

[jeztastic]

Just looked at the RAW file, and you're right, the whole thing looks softer than I would expect from this lens. Either I've misfocused horribly, which seems unlikely at f19, or it's the effects of diffraction from being so stopped down?

I don't have any flash modifiers, so was having to stop down a lot.

[jeztastic]

Version with more highlights and contrast. This has helped with the softness I think, but now looks a bit unnatural. Compensating for too even lighting I think. My setup was to try out the Rembrandt triangle thing, soft lighting for my girlfriend. However she got bored and Rick jumped in, so I just snapped away. Lesson learned, which is what it's all about. Unfortunately my girlfriend doesn't let me put her photo on the internet, some of them were pretty nice.

[Ash]

DOF can be unexpectedly thin even stopped down a lot when the focusing distance is close, and the focal length is long. But for this fast fifty, f/19 should be plenty deep enough to get the sharpness you need. I don't think diffraction has much to do with this result, as it's sharp in places (particularly centrally) and more clearly not in others.

[fg-one]

I don't think you first version needed more detail. It just needed +0.5 exposure and a slight tone curve editing, IMO.

[Bruce]

I agree with FG, the lack of detail in the shirt actually makes his face 'pop'. Re Ash's first comment, you could try just moving the flash just a bit closer to him and slightly to the rear (from the current position) that way you would darken (in relative terms) the opposite side of his face getting a even more moody look.

[jeztastic]

OK, think I'm happy with this one...