When I saw it I thought to myself (as apposed to actually saying it out loud like people do on TV) "This is what portraiture should be, this is beautiful".
So I contacted the photographer and asked if I could share the image (and a little bit of her) with you good people, to which she graciously agreed.
Here goes, world this is photographer Carmen Bike, Carmen this is the world:
Where was the image taken?
On a stairwell landing in my studio, lit by a north facing window.
How did the image come about?
I think in this business it is just a matter of being aware and present. I placed him by the wall and told him to wait while I got my composition and focus set up. In his waiting, I saw that he looked perfect so I took it.
Equipment (camera, lens, lighting, etc)
Fuji S2 F2.8 @ 180 ISO800 Tamron 28 – 75mm 2.8 at 48mm
Natural north facing window light on the left and a 40’’ silver reflector on the right.
Post production work (what was done and software used)
Shot in raw and converted to 8 bit tiff using Fuji’s Hyper Utility SW.
Taken into Photoshop 7 where minor retouching was performed (brighten the eyes and minimize circles under the eyes, toned down the brightness of his shirt).
Converted to sepia using an action I wrote.
How did you get into photography/how long have you been a photographer?
I was my families photographer as a child but it was not a vocational interest for me. I followed my scholastics skills into an engineering career. My former spouse had a significant photographic hobby and when he started turning down job opportunities because he wasn’t interested, I picked up the camera. That was 17 years ago. My specialties are children, family's, and anything where people are interacting with each other. For fun I photograph nature. For my sessions I give the client what they want but I might respectfully request an image that is “for me” something that I see in them that is not necessarily what they were looking for, but usually it's something they like it.
If you would like to learn more about Carmen or see her her work, be sure to visit her website.
To view a larger version, click on the image and it will open in a new window.
"The Candidate"
