Photos 6 – Bannack – Portraits

The lighting setup for this portrait was continuous. There weren’t a lot of edits done. I liked the rather dark colors, so I actually darkened the blacks a little more. Then I cropped the image to improve the composition and make the subject larger. I also applied burned edges and sharpening in Photoshop. I liked this picture because she looks focused and intense. And holding a gun, it seems like she’s the kind of woman you shouldn’t mess with.

Looks like Bannack is about to get another ghost! I almost didn’t consider this portrait usable, but I liked the intensity of it and the story it told so much that I decided to give it a go. And, all things considered it turned out pretty well. I used adjustment brushes in Adobe Camera Raw to increase the exposure on the subject, and then I used a second adjustment brush to lighten up the gun even more because it wasn’t standing out from the window frame much. I also added burned edges because I like how that effect looks on portraits. Even though it makes it hard to see details, I love the extremely dramatic lighting of the stark white window and the very dark person. The amount of light on the subject probably matches his dark mobster soul.