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Fun with Nikon Images 2021

chrism

chrism

Well-known member
I used a roll of film last weekend trying to re-create what I had read in Roger Hicks and Christopher Nisperos wonderful book in which they analyzed classic Hollywood portraits and tried to describe the lighting that must have been used. It really is a splendid read and I'd recommend it to anyone who is willing to go beyond natural light. I used a high mounted strobe as key light (with a softbox, which was my big mistake), and a low right-side CFT monolight for fill. Made nice photos, but not remotely what I had envisaged. A film example, using a tiny half-frame 18x24mm negative (I'm going through an obsessional phase with half-frame Olympus SLRs. Tough if you don't like it. It would be much the same with the F6.) :



Yep, OK picture, but nothing like the expected results. So today I got serious. Set a D850 to the same film speed (640 as using Kentmere 400 at 640 as I want to develop in Diafine), used a corded flash meter to measure the exposure on the well lit nose rather than the usual lips and chin position, and got 1/60 at f16. Changed the D850 to non-auto-ISO 640 only, manual exposure with f16 and 1/60, focus on half-button press, and connected a remote release. (Seems to me I can develop and dry a film in the time it takes to change all those menus!) Off with the softbox, no fill light for this experiment, and a single exposure taken. Perhaps this is the modern equivalent of the Polaroid back on a Hasselblad. Only me home, as usual, as after a bone marrow transplant I'm under house arrest despite triple vaccination. Sorry for ugly almost hairless subject. This is what I got:



And that, I think, will justify the same set up being used on a whole roll of film next weekend. Perhaps a fill light from the side of half of them just to compare. One of these days, I may end up looking like Cary Grant (or maybe more likely Bela Lugosi!)
 
F

Fredrick

Active member
My everlasting quest for the perfect black and white conversion continues. I believe I am getting closer with my last attempt. This shot was first ran through DXO PureRaw, a software I have come to like a lot. I then Converted it to black and white with the "camera red filter" in Lightroom and added some structure to the sky with SilverEfex. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24G @14mm


(I see that after uploading the image becomes much darker and more brownish than on my two colour calibrated screens. This happens even with Srgb conversion and no colour management option in photoshop. Any clues or tips regarding this?)
 
pegelli

pegelli

Well-known member
hi Fredrick, When I dowload the image on my computer and open it in Photoshop (CS3) I get the message: "The embedded ICC profile cannot be used because of a program error. Ignoring the profile", so I think your problem of the different appearance after uploading has to do with a wrong or faulty profile.

When I continue to open the image it opens and is not colour managed and shows it in my default CS3 display colour space (sRGB) and is fully neutral (the RGB values are equal everywhere I look in the image)

It's a very nice image and conversion wise my (minor) suggestions would be to darken the sky/clouds on the right hand side above the houses (the bright spot there pulls my eyes out of the image) and maybe also increase the shadow contrast on the left side of the mountain . Also the sky in the left top of the image might be a tad too dark.
But realise, this is all "salt & pepper to taste" and the most important part is to follow the vision you have in mind with this photo.
 
F

Fredrick

Active member
pegelli said:
hi Fredrick, When I dowload the image on my computer and open it in Photoshop (CS3) I get the message: "The embedded ICC profile cannot be used because of a program error. Ignoring the profile", so I think your problem of the different appearance after uploading has to do with a wrong or faulty profile.

When I continue to open the image it opens and is not colour managed and shows it in my default CS3 display colour space (sRGB) and is fully neutral (the RGB values are equal everywhere I look in the image)

It's a very nice image and conversion wise my (minor) suggestions would be to darken the sky/clouds on the right hand side above the houses (the bright spot there pulls my eyes out of the image) and maybe also increase the shadow contrast on the left side of the mountain . Also the sky in the left top of the image might be a tad too dark.
But realise, this is all "salt & pepper to taste" and the most important part is to follow the vision you have in mind with this photo.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Pegelli.

I actually agree that the image is too bright on the right side above the houses. I will try to darken it and add some selective contrast to the left hand side of the mountain. The reason for the dark sky is that I want the image to convey a feeling of an approaching storm.
 
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