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Project: Colored Faces
This blog is a place to promote the talented photographers in our community, any stories they have to share, or any exciting photo projects they may be working on. Today we're featuring Bo Lelewel and his recent photo series 'Colored Faces', who is sharing his creative process and post-processing tips.
‘Colored Faces’ is a series of twelve photographs. Each photograph a portrait of a person from different nation, aged between 20 to 45 years old. The people from these series are from Germany, USA, Ivory Coast, Japan, South Africa, Guinea and other countries. Every individual is expressing his or her vulnerability being shot up-close in a portrait format, seemingly naked with no lines of a tee-shirt or dress showing. Their vulnerability hidden behind a pattern which expresses one’s hobby or interest, with a big wide smile that shines through. This project was created for College admission portfolio. Wish me luck!
I shot all of the photos in my room in front of a white wall, because I knew that I would change the background later in Photoshop. I used one off camera flash with a shoot through umbrella to light them. I wanted to have a pretty evenly illuminated face, but still have some shadows to give the photo some depth. After the shoot I started reviewing them and picked my favorites. I did some basic adjustments like contrast, brightness and converting them to black and white, so the color wouldn’t distract me while choosing the winning photo. I then cropped the photo to a square, because I really liked the look of them when they are all square.
At first I thought I would go for different expressions but during the process I saw that a big smile with an open mouth looks best, because it breaks up the pattern and you don’t lose the person in the background. The pattern represents something that the person loves, so a serious face wouldn’t really make sense.
I created a form with questions about the person’s interests, passions, and also information about the person such as their age, home country, favorite color, etc. Everyone had to fill that form, before or after the shoot.This really helped me to keep track of all the information they gave me. Then I started thinking, how I could transform the data into a two dimensional, visually pleasing pattern that fits to the person. This process took up most time. I created the pattern in Adobe Illustrator.
When I was happy with the result I brought the photo and the pattern into Photoshop. I then did some minor retouching on the skin and started with cutting out the person from the background. Once that was done I copied the layer with the pattern and put one above the cut out person. I used a filter called “displace” to give the illusion that the pattern is actually wrapping around the person’s face. I had to play with the settings until it looked the way I wanted. I then changed the blend mode to overlay and lowered the opacity to about 75 %. It also helped to blur the layer with the pattern a little bit to sell the effect. Then I adjusted the Background. I didn’t want the person to blend in too much with the Background so I moved it around a little bit, or rotated it. I also blurred the background so it looks like a shallow depth of field to make the photograph more three dimensional. I also added a dark vignette to lead the viewer’s eye into the center. Then I brought a colored version of the original photo of the person into Photoshop and used a mask to only reveal the mouth and eyes in color. Then I finished it off by some final color and contrast adjustments and sharpened it a little.
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Thanks to Bo for sharing his project and to you for reading! If you have comments or questions to Bo Lelewel about his project please leave them below.
Gallery: Beauty In the Details
The Gallery feature is a great way of challenging yourself and getting exposure for your work. Every week a theme is announced and you have until Sunday that week to submit your photos. Upload photos to your 500px profile and then email us the links. You may already have a photo that suits or you can see it as a weekly creative brief. This week's theme was: Beauty In the Details
Next week’s theme is: Elevation
Thank you to everyone who participated in this feature. Theme is open to interpretation so get creative, get snapping and send us the links to blog@500px.com. Reminder, deadline is July 22nd at 6pm (EST).
Portrait: Marcin Sobas
There are many great photos on 500px, yet we want to know more about the photographers and stories behind them. Our Portrait interview series feature a talented photographer each week, allowing us to discover more about living life through a lens. This week's interview is with Poland-based photographer Marcin Sobas.
Hi Marcin, tell us how and when did you start your photographic journey? What inspired you?
I liked making pictures since childhood, but I fell in love with photography about six to seven years ago. To this day photography is my greatest passion. Being a self-taught photographer I started with a compact Canon PowerShot A510 and later switched to a cropped sensor DSLR. Ultimately I plan to get a full frame camera.
I love Ansel Adams’ and Marcin Sacha’s work, but the inspiration comes to me from my family, travel, exploration of beautiful places and life in general.
How would you describe your photography?
I am drawn to large agricultural fields with rolling hills and to misty mornings by the mountains. At these locations I mainly use Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L lens. It is my favorite lens, which may be surprising to a landscape photographer :)
A picture needs to have a story in itself. Only then a photographer can pass to the audience something great.
The sping tree by Marcin Sobas
You have frequent photographs of rolling green hills. Where were these taken?
Some of these photos I captured in Moravian fields, Czech Republic and my recent photos I took in Tuscany, Italy. I think everyone knows that place ;)
Many of your photos are filled with fog and beautifully captured rays of light. How would you advice to capture shots such as these?
These photos were taken at sunrise in the mountains, when the sun was shining through the mist. This effect is hard to come by because the weather must be ideal. Another issue is finding a good location with the right angle of light. Fortunately, I have found such a place.
My advice is that it has to be a cold night with a cloudless sunrise. Then you’ll have a good chance at catching the desired effect.
Rays by Marcin Sobas
What camera do you shoot with? And what is your favorite equipment?
I shoot with a Canon 40D. My favorite lenses are Canon 70-200mm f/4 L-series and Canon 17-50mm f/2.8. I prefer natural lighting but sometimes I use flash in difficult light conditions. On a rare occasion I will use a polarization filter and sometimes a Cokin filters system (only for the wide frames).
Is post-processing important to you?
Post-processing is equally important to weather conditions. If the weather and air visibility are good I can get a good shot. In conjunction with good post-processing I can get a great art work. But I'm not in favor of spending a long time by the computer during post-processing. A photograph must have an original climate to it. I see many pictures on the web which have lost their “character” during the digital post-processing. Photo treatment should be considered with care.
Village at sunrise by Marcin Sobas
How do you market your work?
In contrast to other types of photography landscape photography is less profitable, that's why I treat it as a hobby. Sometimes to take one good picture I have to go to the same location a few times until I get the right conditions. It is hard work and it isn’t selling so well like fashion, editorial or advertising photography.
If you could capture anybody or anything on camera what would it be?
That is a very interesting question. That may be wild animals in Africa or maybe the Himalaya mountains. One thing is certain, these are my dreams. As well as traveling and photographing New Zealand, U.S.A. and national parks of America. May God do the choosing.
What are your aspirations for the future, in photography or otherwise?
I don’t have any big plans but, I have few dreams. I would like to evolve further in photography and I hope for some of my dreams to come true. For example, like my wild dream of a trip to New Zealand, which seems so out of reach.
Free as a bird by Marcin Sobas
Tell us 5 things about you that are unrelated to photography, which would introduce us to the person behind the lens.
- I live in Poland and I am an economist by education.
- I like sports and adrenalin.
- One of my biggest dreams is to fly a jet like an F-16 or F-22.
- I love to spend my free time with family and my son.
- I would like to be a millionaire and spend my life traveling the world.
What advice would you give to beginner photographers?
First of all photographer needs to know what kind of effect and framing he is looking for. When you know what you want you can then achieve it. I would also recommend having the basic knowledge of weather, especially if you want to photograph foggy landscapes. The better you know the weather, the better photos you get. And most importantly, don’t get discouraged and never give up :)
To see more of Marcin Sobas’ work head over to his 500px page. To purchase one of his canvas prints or digital downloads visit Marcin's store page.Thanks to Marcin for being interviewed and to you for reading.
Feel free to leave a comment below, feedback is great!
Gallery: Monochromatic
The Gallery feature is a great way of challenging yourself and getting exposure for your work. Every week a theme is announced and you have until 6pm on Sunday (EST) to submit your photos. Upload photos to your 500px profile and then email us the links. You may already have a photo that suits or you can see it as a weekly creative brief. This week's theme was: Monochromatic.
Next week’s theme is: Beauty In the Details
Thank you to everyone who participated in this feature. Theme is open to interpretation so get creative, get snapping and send us the links to blog@500px.com. Reminder, deadline is July 15th at 6pm (EST).
500px for iPad 1.5
We're excited to announce that today we have released version 1.5 of our iPad app. The most exciting feature in 1.5 is the addition of support for push notifications: you'll now be notified when someone comments, likes, or faves one of your photos. We'll also let you know when your photos reach Upcoming or Popular, and when they're added to Editor's Choice. Of course, you're able to choose not to receive these notifications in the app's Settings menu.
Also new in 1.5 is the ability to log into 500px with Twitter, a feature we added recently to our website. We've integrated our Friend Finder into the app so you can easily follow users from Facebook and Twitter.
First-time users will be shown a tour demonstrating key features of the app. Users who already use the app can find the same tour under the Settings menu.
Finally, this version addresses lots of issues that users have reported to us. We really appreciate all the feedback we get from our dedicated users and we take all the suggestions you send us very seriously. Specifically, we've added the ability to tap on a user in a comments list to see their profile. We've also significantly improved performance for users on the first generation iPad.
Get the app on the App Store.
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