My image of Leon of the Flyrights has evolved over the months and this post shows each major iteration along with comments and feedback that I received along the way.
I have taken images of The Flyrights on P&O Aurora’s Guernsey cruise and on Oceana’s cruise around Italy.
In March 2020 I had the opportunity to take even more images of them at Nidd Hall in Yorkshire where they performed for just one evening. Little did we know that COVID was spreading through the UK and this would be our last ‘gathering’ with lots of strangers for a long time.
Original Image in Camera RAW
I started the evening using my nifty 50 EF lens as I was worried about being in a crush of people near the stage and having too big a lens. After the first two numbers I went back to our room and swapped the lens for my EF 24-105 F4L lens as I found myself shooting images from a long way back from the stage.
Here is Leon in a calm moment between numbers at the concert.
My Canon EOS 5D4 was set up to record both RAW and Mono JPG images. The above image is the RAW image shot at f/4.5, 1/200 sec, 105mm and with -1 stop exposure compensation.
Original Image in Camera Mono JPG
This is the rendering in black and white by the camera on my second card.
Version sent to The Flyrights
I did some editing on the mono JPG from the camera.
Then along with other images I sent them off to the group as a thank you for putting up with me taking pictures during their concert. These images were added to my website in this blog.
Version in Club Digital Image Competition
I decided to enter this black and white image into the first round of the club’s digital image competition and did some more tidying up of the reflecting bits in his top, the bright lights on the left of Leon’s head etc – plus re-sized the image for the competition.
Judge’s comments
… Who is Leon? I would love to know who Leon is. You are teasing us too much. I just wish I knew a little bit more about this .
… Is he a musician? He has some sort of a fancy top on, author please put me out of my misery and tell me at the end who Leon is
… However, it is a great candid view, , simple but effective, he is looking into the space in front of him here, has glints in his eye , but look at all this sheen across, , a dancer or something? at a concert?
… it is obviously quite contrasty , obviously quite bright in some areas but I can see lots of rim lighting so that is doing well itself
… exposure – I can see it was a very challenging evening but I think that the high key sweat is excellent, sharpness obviously very very sharp
… I’ll hold that one back
At the end of the judging of Division 1, the judge reviewed the held back images and made these comments.
Extract from the judge’s summary
… for bragging rights , Leon also gets 10 and for me is the best picture in Division 1
… it is very appealing and I could see this on some sort of coffee table book of rock and roll stars
… the look and the expression he has, everything about it screams professional photographyI really enjoyed this overall
Success in International Salons
In December 2020, on a whim, I entered my first International Circuit as we were once again stuck in lockdown.
I went back to the image that I sent The Flyrights as I needed a different sized image and not fully understanding the rules of salons, this was the image I entered. I have subsequently learned that once entered into a PSA or FIAP registered salon then changes to an image and even to the title are not allowed.
So this version was not really an evolution.
However, to date this image has received 36 Acceptances in FIAP and PSA Salons plus Judges’ Awards (to end September 2021.)
Minor updates for BPE Competitions
In March 2021, I decided to enter BPE competitions and did some much needed adjustments to move it closer to the image I had used in the club competition. This version so far has had two Acceptances in BPE salons (including Neath 2021.)
Critique from PAGB Advisor
I asked a PAGB Advisor for his opinion on this version. Below are his comments:
This is a very powerful piece of portrait photography which I like very much. I particularly like the high contrast you have achieved and the way that the subject’s hair is rim lit. The image is nicely sharp with a good range of tones across the board from true black through mid-tones to true white. There is good detail in the shadows and highlights. Compositionally, it works very well as you have positioned the subject off-centre in the frame which increases the overall visual dynamic and provides space for the subject to look ‘into’ and not ‘out of’ the picture.
I would be inclined to take a sliver off the left-hand side of the image as I find the dark braces on the left shoulder a little distracting. In fact, it gives the appearance that the subject is deformed. You might also like to tone down slightly the bright area in the background as this draws my eyes away from the subject. Similarly, you could also tone down the rim light on the back of his neck which also draws my eye.
We need to make sure that the attention is focused on the subject’s face. The beads of sweat are perfect in the context of the visual story.
I also offered this version of the image as a possible entry for the club to use in the 2021-2022 SCPF Digital Image League. This is a summary of the resulting feedback:
– Not too much that might need work – the very bright area on the back of the neck
– Does anyone see anything odd in the singer’s left shoulder??
– Maybe work on the noise in the light area of the background? Maybe slightly selectively sharpen the eye and nose.
– increase catchlights in eye
– Great choice. You are seeing the left brace on the left shoulder which is fine. Debatable about the noise in the background as perhaps this gives a gritty overall look.
– the keyline could be taken to another grey-value, but then does not bug me as a pure white. A few minor dabbed heal spots I’d do just to his right eye and eyebrow. Also white line on bridge of nose. Nothing odd the left shoulder – I only see brace strap. Back of neck is blown to white – no detail – needs clone/copy/stretch and low opacity overlays or whatever to put “right” if it is a concern.
– I suggest we reduce the noise in background- it will cost points if we leave it in.
– I would darken the back of the neck somewhat.
– investigate lightening the eyes but it’s easy to overdo it. I assume it’s sharp enough.
– Yes I would attend to the blown area on the back of the neck but I don’t see anything strange in the shoulder. I agree that some slight selective sharpening of the eye and nose might help the image.
– Light on LHS is consistent with a second light source and gives good separation but blown out on neck and lost on left braces strap. Separation at top of head could be better defined. No concern about slightly OFF left shoulder or sharpness of eye and nose. Should remove bright strip on bridge of nose. Could reduce brightness and noise on RHS background but not important.
The latest version
I was away in Cornwall in September which gave me some free time during a rainy afternoon to make some of the modifications suggested above.
In summary the changes I made were:
- Reflection on neck – reduced
- Reflecting speck of sweat on bridge of nose – gone
- Left shoulder strap – gone
- Nose brightness – gone
- Smoke brightness on right – reduced
- Bright light burst on fleck of material on collar – gone
- Eyes sharpened
- Left shoulder flare – gone
