Trying Jeffries

On Wednesday I took my camera into college with the hope of getting some portraits to try and replicate the style in the previous post. I didn't really feel that comfortable asking people to take their photo, so in the end I only managed to get 4 people to agree. I told them prior that I didn't really want them to smile and that I'd prefer just a regular expression or whatever felt comfortable to them. I also explained that the end result would not be pretty and the purpose wasn't to be looked upon negative. I didn't have long to take each shot as class was starting and my ring flash is quite bright, so I didn't want to blind the people by keeping it on.

I spent quite a few hours trying to figure out how to match or come close to Lee Jeffries style. I found it quite hard because I got results that were too harsh or results that were very far off the mark. In the end I developed a process that seems to work on every shot, regardless of lighting.

First I opened up the unedited RAW image and duplicated the layer so I had two of the same. The bottom layer was converted to standard black and white, whereas the top layer was converted to black and white but using the "High Contrast Blue Filter" setting. This is supposed to mimic the use of a Blue Filter in Black & White Photography, it also enhances pores and other features. Because the emphasis of these images is on the eyes, I removed the eyes from the top layer so that the regular eyes remained. This was due to the blue filter sometimes making the eyes completely black, which gave more of a demonic look. After some editing of levels and curves, I blurred the non-facial areas to give more depth and sharpened the rest of the face. Unfortunately, I had opted to use my 50mm lens, which isn't as sharp as my 40mm, so results would definitely of varied; something to take note of in the future. The final step was to crop to a square format, which cuts out a lot of unnecessary space and draws you in on the subject.

The first shot was of Ellie, which I think turned out quite well. I don't however think it captured her personality and in a way I feel the image is quite blank and doesn't say much. That's just my opinion though and I'm sure somebody else may think differently.

The second was of Lucinda and I feel that out of the four images I took, this one worked the best. This year I have spent a lot of time with her and to me, I really believe that her intensity and personality was sealed in the following. I'm really pleased with how this one turned out and the only thing I would change would be to reshoot it steadier.

Rosie had kindly allowed me to take her photo and this turned out a lot different because of the room. The previous images were shot in our secondary classroom which had no lights on and the blinds down. This was so Ellie could do a little light painting with her Laser Pointer. The only light source was my direct Ring Flash and the cloudy, dull light from the back windows. The following shot was taken in the larger room, which was overflowing with light. Not only was my own light source present, but there were the large windows behind Rosie as well as the overhead lights. This gave an interesting result and led to a lot more facial features being brought out. I think lighting-wise, it's the best out of the 4. I also feel that even though the image is in semi-harsh tones, it does give off a sense of warmth which relates well with Rosie and her personality. 

So that was my experiment with this style of portraiture. I should add that it's pretty much the first time I've taken portraits and while the results aren't what you'd call pretty, I think as a means of testing a look/technique, they came out better than expected. I would like to test this using black and white film and a blue filter to see what results I get without editing, though I don't think this will happen due to a lack of time and resources.

I should also add that it appears that Blogger crippled the image quality during upload, so some areas look blurry and odd.

Additional equipment used: Polaroid Macro LED Ring Flash

Edit: I have found out that this is more closer to the technique known as "Dragan", as opposed to Jeffries style that has a lot more manual work done to each photo. I also have no idea why some of the images turn sepia once clicked? That's random.

Edit2: Fixed quality issue by uploading images to imgur.