Post-Processing: Kelly & Tony
Camera: NIKON D800E
Exposure: 1/60sec at f 3.2 ISO 1600
Exposure Mode: Manual
Lens: Lens: AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G
This was shot in a cobble-stoned courtyard, well after dark. The main light is a constant video LED, commonly used for video.
The image was converted to TIFF using Nikon's Capture NX-D. After all is said and done, I still feel that the colour, sharpness and contrast are better using the Nikon converter.
The black-and-white was created using Power Retouche Black and White Studio. I almost always use the Kodak Tri-X preset, with a red filter to lighten the skin tones. A second black-and-white layer was overexposed to bring out some of the detail in the shadows.
Here are the key layers; from the top down:
* Curve Adjustment Layer, with mask, set to Luminosity blend to darken the blown-out whites of the lights and the gob hat
* Over-exposed B&W layer, masked so that the dark areas have more detail
* B&W layer
* Slightly cleaned up image layer.
I almost never introduce a sharpening layer with D800E images. The sharpening layer just does not seem to make any difference.
Copyright Mike MacKay 2016