Julian de'Courcy
Well-Known Member
MR C. SMITH by Julian de Courcy, on Flickr
Mr C. Smith
- Thread starter Julian de'Courcy
- Start date
MR C. SMITH by Julian de Courcy, on Flickr
Rob MacKillop
Edinburgh Correspondent
So natural looking. There's a connection between his face and the portrait behind him, but also the circles with crosses in them on the right. Love the lone tooth 
Julian de'Courcy
Well-Known Member
So natural looking. There's a connection between his face and the portrait behind him, but also the circles with crosses in them on the right. Love the lone tooth
Thanks Rob. I do not often post again from a set I've done and posted from. But this one I liked the quality of the B+W. The mood created also does reflect at times his character. Yes the tooth is an issue when I did some video's of him reading his poetry. So they need to stay put. This one I think 1/60 iso 320 f2.8 as all were a challenge. It is out of focus. He was moving all the time so I needed to hit the shutter each time I felt a slight pause in the speech was coming, or when there was a short pause. First time I'd had to do that as on the other camera's I'd have simply ramped the iso up, to a decent shutter speed. Good practise I thought at the time and some may not enjoy that but I did. Having said that again if I had made the decision for just B+W that day without the option of colour, it would not have been a problem to shoot at high iso.
A side note. Are you aware that if you work with a Mac there is Iridient Digital developer which processes the Merrill raw files. Not overly expensive if my memory serves me correctly and they do a free trial.
http://www.iridientdigital.com/
Rob MacKillop
Edinburgh Correspondent
Thanks, Julian. I'll look into it.
Rob MacKillop
Edinburgh Correspondent
I downloaded the Iridient demo. Looks a lot more advanced than the Sigma one. But do I want to pay for it when I have Lightroom 4 already? It has a great interface, all set up automatically for the DP Merrills.
For some reason I chose this shot to test it with...
and here is a crop of the central section...
Probably not the best shot to have used. Do you use Iridient, Julian? And if so, do you recommend it?
For some reason I chose this shot to test it with...
and here is a crop of the central section...
Probably not the best shot to have used. Do you use Iridient, Julian? And if so, do you recommend it?
Tom Dunne
Well-Known Member
Julian the first thoughts I had when this opened on my screen was under exposure.. but I will be careful here because this might well have been in a dark room. I do feel though that it needs a little lift, especially the face just to separate it slightly more from the background.
I think it's a great image nonetheless and gives us an opportunity to consider the man himself, his background and what he does with his time. The background is splendid with loads of possible hints and you wonder what is written there.
What was the issue with the tooth?
I think it's a great image nonetheless and gives us an opportunity to consider the man himself, his background and what he does with his time. The background is splendid with loads of possible hints and you wonder what is written there.
What was the issue with the tooth?
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Julian de'Courcy
Well-Known Member
Thanks Tom, .
It is very dark for me and far as processing is concerned and yes the room is dark. Yet I have several versions , one similar to what you suggest. I used the blue layer deliberately, where as the red layer brings skins tones a lot whiter, as using a red filter will. I was trying , attempting to get his mood as a personality into the image rather than being what maybe conceived as visually pleasing. In that respect from myself I think I achieved that. possibly. Yet of course we all know others differently so many may well differ on that opinion and impossible to get a consensus among those who know the subject.
Julian de'Courcy
Well-Known Member
No Rob I don't have a Mac. So a no go. I know lots of Sigma camera users use this program. It is the only other viable Raw converter for Merrill files, there seems to be many for and many who prefer the SSP.
So no you can give me the low down on how good it is. I thought it was not that expensive?
Tom Dunne
Well-Known Member
Nothing wrong with having both and I think you have achieved both with this portrayal.
Pete Askew
Admin
A very fine portrait Julian and it certainly has character. I like the framing and I also like that you can see his paintings but without them becoming distracting.
