Had a great time last month doing some photos for my friend J. Budziszewski in my home studio. I am delighted with how they turned out. They look just like him!
What I mean is that in my opinion, they faithfully communicate the spirit of the person I know—a scholar and a gentleman, with a quick wit and love of good humor.
Don’t look for any of these photos on his next book jacket: that book’s author photo was taken with a cell phone, because I was on vacation in California and the publisher needed a pic ASAP. And in the hierarchy of photographic preference, the cell phone is the logical next choice down from having one’s picture taken by me . . .
The photo on white has been Photoshopped to give it greater contrast and an all-around cooler aesthetic. The one on the black background is essentially SOOC, with the standard Lightroom 3 adjustments. The one thing I used Photoshop for on that photo was to lighten up the black sweater a little bit, without lightening his face as well. Can’t wait for Lightroom 4, since I understand that it will greatly expand the ability to do this kind of localized adjustment. Yes, LR3 lets one do gradient filters, but only on a few parameters. I wanted a lower Blacks level on the sweater than on the face, but LR3 doesn’t let one do a gradient with Blacks . . . so I had to layer two images in Photoshop.
Now head over and buy that book! It’s called On the Meaning of Sex, and is published by ISI Books.