Street Portrait Series 02 - University of Tampa 2

Tanya volunteered for a street portrait on the University of Tampa campus - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/11 ISO 200 1/320th Nikon SB-600 handheld to frame left

This is more a part 2 to the first entry in the Street Portrait Series, as these shots were made on the same day.  This series is about asking people you just see on the street if you can make their portrait.  Tanya, pictured above, was just hanging out on the University of Tampa campus.  I asked her (and Stephanie) if she would not mind letting me take a few photos of her.  She said sure.  So the hard part in street portraits is just getting the nerve up to ask someone.  In my experience so far it seems many people are willing to let you photograph them.  They just want to know what you will do with the photos, so I tell them it is part of a street portrait series I am doing and that I will use them on my website.  That is usually good enough explanation for them and they agree to let me photograph them.

Downtown Tampa provides the backdrop for this shot - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th Nikon SB-600 handheld off camera

Both of these shots were done with my "quick and dirty" method of off camera flash, which just holding the strobe outstretched in my left hand while holding my Nikon D300 in just my right hand.  

How I processed these photographs: 

  • RAW files first processed in Aperture 3 (Nikon D300 default setting)
  • exposure & color correction in Nik Color Efex Pro 3 (polarization, pro contrast, tonal contrast filters)
  • Unsharp Mask applied in Photoshop CS4 (exported from Aperture as a 16-bit TIFF)  
  • some cloning out of the edge of a building in CS4
  • lens distortion filter used on the top image to straighten the building