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Steve

Steve

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I recently posted this video about how to shoot and post process high key B&W:


It was suggested that we should have an official thread for posting high-key images.

I'll start :)


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All of these images are so very impressive. Ivan - that hippo is just out of this world. Great job guys. I need to go try this on a few images.
 
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Steve said:
I recently posted this video about how to shoot and post process high key B&W:


It was suggested that we should have an official thread for posting high-key images.

I'll start :)


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Great shots. Looking forward to people’s posts. . I am on the road for a couple of days but will find and post scouple in between a lot of photo shoots in Colorado for the next 12 days or so.
 
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Fun! Thanks for the video and the exercise, Steve. I'll definitely play!

I just got back from an extended weekend at a cabin, where I spent most of my time photographing birds. Unfortunately it was rainy and I didn't see the sun once. This exercise is thus serendipitous for me, as many of my photos were flat and had awful backgrounds anyway. I like a couple of these more than the color versions. I think I'll make it a project to print a series!

The last one is just a bit of a joke.... Muskrat in Flight

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Chris K said:
Fun! Thanks for the video and the exercise, Steve. I'll definitely play!

I just got back from an extended weekend at a cabin, where I spent most of my time photographing birds. Unfortunately it was rainy and I didn't see the sun once. This exercise is thus serendipitous for me, as many of my photos were flat and had awful backgrounds anyway. I like a couple of these more than the color versions. I think I'll make it a project to print a series!

The last one is just a bit of a joke.... Muskrat in Flight

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Great set- that muskrat has me for a second, but photos that make me stop are always cool!
 
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Steve said:
This one is specific to B&W high-key wildlife. However, you are welcome to start another thread for other high key subjects :)
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Thanks. I just wanted to check before posting.

This one is a little different than I crop or edit most of my wildlife pics. I usually don't go square on mammals and I normally include a little bit of environment. If you look closely at the long eyelash over his left eye, notice the little specks of ice? This is a little yearling buck we watched grow up. I have a photo of his mama the day she gave birth to him.

This image had an almost white background with heavily frost covered field behind the deer. The high contrast between deer and background I thought lent itself to a "high key" kind of treatment.
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[edit: after watching Steve's video again, I applied some of his technique to the image]
 
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Hey Steve, Just wondering if you have any tips for subjects that dont have a great defined border? For instance this heron has a lot of single feathers which makes the subject masking.... a challenge :)
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wes said:
Hey Steve, Just wondering if you have any tips for subjects that dont have a great defined border? For instance this heron has a lot of single feathers which makes the subject masking.... a challenge :)
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Not Steve, of course and this was just down and dirty with the jpeg but not sure it needs masking...

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wes said:
Hey Steve, Just wondering if you have any tips for subjects that dont have a great defined border? For instance this heron has a lot of single feathers which makes the subject masking.... a challenge :)
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When you convert it, use the blue slider in Lightroom to make the background brighter. I think it'll work. You could even tweak the white balance a little to get more blue for it to work with. Then, with the mask, try just using the white point as shown in the video - it should leave the feather alone.
 
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