How does Lee Jeffries get this effect?

[2WheelPhoto]

The only thing that I wish would be phased out or innovated somehow is the use of a gritty texture/background. This seems sooooooo prominent nowadays with fine art photographers (and popular ones at that) that it's almost cliche now...like selective color. I like to think of it as the "Brooke Shaden Effect."

It does work in many of these images, but personally I'm a little tired of it....

Agree. It feels rather nostalgic or something.

Really, the whole series reminds me of Diane Arbus on digital wet plates. I don't know if that is good or bad.

^^^for him making money on it....its good

 

[rexbobcat]

The only thing that I wish would be phased out or innovated somehow is the use of a gritty texture/background. This seems sooooooo prominent nowadays with fine art photographers (and popular ones at that) that it's almost cliche now...like selective color. I like to think of it as the "Brooke Shaden Effect."

It does work in many of these images, but personally I'm a little tired of it....

Agree. It feels rather nostalgic or something.

Really, the whole series reminds me of Diane Arbus on digital wet plates. I don't know if that is good or bad.

^^^for him making money on it....its good

Haha I'm not saying that he shouldn't do it. I just think it's a bit tired.

Hell he might have been one of the pioneers and everyone copied him, but it still makes me curious as to whether his "models" really look as much like caricatures from the Tim Burton universe.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

I agree indeed =)

 

[LouR]

I LOVE this style of photograph and would like to do something like this, but I have no clue how it's done. Anybody have an idea how he achieves this result?

Gripping Black and White Portraits of the Homeless by Lee Jeffries «TwistedSifter

This won't give the steps he takes, but comes close.

 

[tirediron]

I LOVE this style of photograph and would like to do something like this, but I have no clue how it's done. Anybody have an idea how he achieves this result?

I'm guessing he uses a camera....

:taped sh:

 

[cynicaster]

I think what we have here is a guy who is firing on all cylinders in all facets of his craft: pre-visualization, photographic technique, and post processing. That's an enviable skill-set to have.

I don't typically care much for "homeless" photography because it makes me feel like the photographer is just going for easy points by appealing to sympathy, and all too often the potential impact is wasted due to uninteresting execution. But with this set, we have the resounding thud of met potential; these photos made me feel genuinely uncomfortable--which I've no doubt is the point.

 

[amolitor]

Light from above, wide open for minimal DoF. Oversharpen the resulting file, I jammed the sharpen lever all the way over. Then curves, burning, dodging, work like hell to get contrast onto the skin. Burn down the background ruthlessly.

It turns out that pushing this much contrast into the skin tones (and the skin has very close to a full range of tones in it) makes everything else look weird, I do not know the photoshop idiom for this, but GIMP lets me create two layers, one with the right skin and one with the right everything-else. Then I add a "mask" to one of the layers, and I can airbrush in areas that are one layer, or the other, to blend them.

Sloppy airbrush technique in creating this mask mottles the skin in a gritty looking way.

 

[leeroix]

^ I think some elements still need some attention. Certain parts still look too smooth. And not nearly enough contrast in the skin. Did you use a high pass filter? the background needs more attention too, as you look superimposed onto it...

-just realized you DIDN'T use photoshop.

-nice pissed-off look though...

 

[amolitor]

I'm pretty unhappy with the lower 1/8 of the frame, but to get that right would really require a reshoot, and I'd spent enough time on it already. I probably should have just cropped it rather than making it a big airbrushed smudge, but the hoodie isn't really what I wanted to demo anyways.

I didn't mess with high pass/low pass processing, just curves and sharpening. GIMP can do that, but you pretty much have to do the math yourself

Not sure I COULD get more contrast into the skin. My beautiful skin is just too baby smooth to come out looking right!

 

[leeroix]

^ that is part of the problem... The subjects he chooses are also ragged, and worn. Thus producing something interesting to look at.

 

[leeroix]

Just took this picture... and about 10 mins of photoshop. Couple things I already did wrong, ISO is too high, and I missed focus when running back in front of the lens. Also, the conversion to JPG sucks...

me...ragged by keips66, on Flickr

 

[amolitor]

You too have baby smooth skin, I see. We're just too god****ed pretty!

ETA: Also, you seem to have lost the midtones to a degree. It's surprisingly hard to avoid a halftone effect while simultaneously avoiding blocking up the highlights or shadows. The look when you get it right looks a bit like a newspaper, but ultra sleek and buttery too!

 

[leeroix]

The crop was off too...

me ragged by keips66, on Flickr
I suppose if I sat down and really tried, The results would be better, but this aint bad for 10 mins. And yeah, really sucks having baby smooth skin... haahah

 

[leeroix]

Maybe this is a little more appropriate. Not enough anguish in the first one...

me ragged II by keips66, on Flickr

 

[LouR]

LMAO! Now you just look like a geek who was just told Linux is no longer free.