Tech info:
Handheld Nikon D3, 80-200mm 2.8 Nikkor zoom, set to 200mm at f2.8, 1/2000th sec., ISO 3200, aperture priority. B/W JPG mode. I shot on aperture priority because the lighting was rather even, so I was reasonably confident that the light scenario would not fool the camera’s meter. Since I was shooting action scenes with the lens at 200mm, I chose a high ISO. This gave me high shutter speeds that helped minimize camera shake.
–Eddie.
Love the tones here. His smile draws you in and the texture of the water is so nice against his smoother skin. This picture made me stop and take a 2nd look.
Thank you, Shawn. I appreciate your thoughts on this one.
Ü
–Eddie.
The picture pops out of the screen like a 3D image. Extremely sharp and good amount of contrast (black curly hair). A great smile by the kid.
Thank you for commenting, Subra! Ü
–Eddie.
Dear Mr. Bonfigli:
I also shoot with a Nikon D200 and have recently become interested in doing B&W portraits. In my search for information on the subject I happened to stumble across your site and was amazed by the beautiful images you have created. I ma amazed at tonal quality and lack of noise that appears in your pictures. I have many questions but will limit them to just a few: (1) Do you always use prime lenses? (2) Do you set your camera for manual the majority of the time? (3) I am surprised that you shoot in B&W mode with the camera as most of the articles I have read recommend shooting in color and converting. Can you elaborate a bit about your workflow. And finally, what printer paper/s do you use? Thanking you in advance for any help you can render.
David
Hi David,
Thanks for commenting.
My responses to your questions:
1) I do favor fixed focal length lenses, mostly because of their larger max apertures. Also important to me is that a prime lens limits the choice of focal length to just one length, which I find helpful in composing a given scene… zooms can often introduce too many options.
2) Yes, I shoot on manual exposure almost always because usually I am shooting in tricky lighting situations where the camera’s meter gets easily fooled (as in most backlighting scenarios).
3) I have no doubt that working with RAW color files from the start may give the final image a slight edge over those starting out as b/w JPG files. But, as I’ve mentioned here several times when others have asked about this: What is most important to me is how the whole process of photography feels, how much fun it is all the way through the process. So, having been a b/w film photographer before going digital, psychologically I really need to see the image in B/W right from the start. I can’t seem to tolerate starting with a color image then converting it. And so, even if it means losing a touch of image integrity by shooting B/W files in camera, I am prepared to deal with whatever drawbacks are presented. So far, I am pleased with the totally B/W workflow. I don’t alter the files significantly except to add some contrast for a little more punch. I have the files printed to B/W paper at Millerslab.com, which has been working out fine so far, although I did for a while have them printed to their color paper, which produced perfectly adequate results.
Ü
–Eddie.
Dear Mr.Bonfigli
I love your pictures!!! I am originally from Austria, so sorry about my spelling! I am doing b/w babies/children portaits too, I am using a Canon D30 with a Canon Ultrasonic EFS 17-85mm, I am not very happy with my lense, the lowest AV is only 5.6 not blurry enough. I shoot in RAW and color like some people recomend, if I convert the outdoors they are too dark, somthing wrong with my lighting, mostly I use P Mode for outdoors. Should I start shooting in b/w with a different Mode like AV? I also have a Canon EFS 18-55mm haven’t used it for a long time, should I start using this one again? Any recomendations for a different lense and shooting outdoors?
Thanks for you help!
Claudia
Thank you, Claudia.
I would highly recommend giving manual exposure mode a try. This way your exposure settings will not be influenced by bright areas of the scene, which tend to fool your camera on AV mode, or any other auto mode. The reason you are getting slightly dark exposures is because your camera doesn’t know exactly what you intend to expose for. So you have to tell it. This is where manual exposure mode comes in and saves the day. Exposure for the face of the subject in manual mode… fine tune the exposure by checking your histogram after taking a test shot. Once you’ve arrived at the correct exposure, keep your shooting direction the same so that the lighting stays the same. This will let you shoot freely without having to remeter or reset your aperture and/or shutter speed.
So keep shooting in RAW mode (since that is what you’re used to), and try “going manual”.
Regarding your lens choice: If you are really getting into children’s portraiture, where blurring the background is such an advantage, then I would strongly recommend that your next lens be an 85mm 1.8. Shotting this lens at f2.3 or so will give you wonderfully soft backgrounds.
Let me know how things go for you, Claudia.
Ü
–Eddie.