# Some of my Monochrome Street Portraiture



## BradGrove (Mar 10, 2015)

Image shot in Varanasi, India

Canon EOS 5D MKIII
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 135mm

1/40 sec @ f/2.8; ISO 400


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## BradGrove (Mar 10, 2015)

Image shot in Varanasi, India

Canon EOS 5D MKIII
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 200mm

1/200 sec @ f/5; ISO 3200


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## Click (Mar 10, 2015)

Great portraits, beautiful images. Nicely done.


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## BradGrove (Mar 10, 2015)

Image shot near Zainabad, India

Canon EOS 5D MKIII
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 200mm

1/160 sec @ f/2.8; ISO 125


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## BradGrove (Mar 10, 2015)

Image shot near Zainabad, India

Canon EOS 5D MKIII
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 145mm

1/500 sec @ f/3.5; ISO 100


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## BradGrove (Mar 10, 2015)

Image shot in Jaipur, India

Canon EOS 5D MKIII
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 200mm

1/320 sec @ f/2.8; ISO 125


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## ray5 (Mar 10, 2015)

Excellent shots, particlualarly the first two. Brings out the magic of monochrome!!


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## BradGrove (Mar 10, 2015)

Image shot somewhere in the province of Gujarat, India

Canon EOS 5D MKIII
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 145mm

1/500 sec @ f/3.5; ISO 100


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## K-amps (Mar 10, 2015)

Lovely portraits...!


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## Tyroop (Mar 10, 2015)

Wow. Wonderful poses, perfect composition/exposure, and fabulous post-processing. Very, very impressive. These really are photos to frame and hang on the wall. With so many ways to process B/W, some details on your PP would be interesting. I never manage to get the results that I really want with B/W conversion. Also, did the subjects pose for the camera or did you just wait for the shot?


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## lion rock (Mar 10, 2015)

BradGrove,
Remarkable images. Such characters.
Love to see more.
-r


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## BradGrove (Mar 10, 2015)

Tyroop said:


> Wow. Wonderful poses, perfect composition/exposure, and fabulous post-processing. Very, very impressive. These really are photos to frame and hang on the wall. With so many ways to process B/W, some details on your PP would be interesting. I never manage to get the results that I really want with B/W conversion. Also, did the subjects pose for the camera or did you just wait for the shot?



Hi, thanks for the kind words. None of the subjects in these images are posed. For this type of photography you either catch the subject unaware or within a few seconds of them having realised that you are taking their photograph. You really can't obtain these sorts of facial expressions when posed. It is very satisfying walking the streets of a third world country, camera in hand not knowing what will happen next


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## ray5 (Mar 10, 2015)

Can you share your PP process on these images? Thx


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## BradGrove (Mar 11, 2015)

Young girl watches on as foreign photographers visit her village. Image taken near Zainabad, India.

Canon EOS 5D Mk III
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @190mm

1/400 sec @f/3.2; ISO 200


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## BradGrove (Mar 11, 2015)

ray5 said:


> Can you share your PP process on these images? Thx



Hi... there is nothing really special I can think of which is common to each of these photographs. Although Lightroom is the centre of my workflow and PS does play quite a role at times, generally each image is processed individually and on a "case by case" basis. I like to think that I am creating photographs, not batch processing snap shots. That said, contrast, levels, curves, colour filters and vignetting are quite important adjustment parameters for monochrome portraits.


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## Tyroop (Mar 11, 2015)

> Hi, thanks for the kind words. None of the subjects in these images are posed. For this type of photography you either catch the subject unaware or within a few seconds of them having realised that you are taking their photograph. You really can't obtain these sorts of facial expressions when posed. It is very satisfying walking the streets of a third world country, camera in hand not knowing what will happen next



Brad, thanks for the tip. I live in a Third World country never knowing what will happen next and often have a camera to hand - albeit normally a small EOS-M, but don't get shots like these. Very inspirational. The poses are really perfect - definitely a touch of Steve McCurry in your portraits. The 70-200 lens you used for these obviously gives you some distance to work with, which must be a benefit with candid portraits. I always have a bit of a dilemma about letting people know I am going to take a photo, in which case they pose unnaturally, or taking a shot without them knowing and getting a natural expression. Some people get upset occasionally if you don't ask permission. I took a look at your website as well and was equally impressed with your other shots.

You didn't mention the PP for your B/W images, or is this a secret?! Just wondering whether you do everything in LR or PS or use some plug-ins.


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## Tyroop (Mar 11, 2015)

Thanks - you replied just as I sent my last post!


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## BradGrove (Mar 11, 2015)

This young woman who lives in a camp near Dasada, Gujarat (India) looked up as I walked past. She was setting up her little market stall (mat on the dirt with home made trinkets for sale). When she saw that I had a camera pointing right at her she smiled just as I pressed the shutter button. She was initially surprised and then maybe a little reserved and shy. You just have to catch the moment and that is what this sort of photography is all about.

Canon EOS 5D MK III
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 190mm

1/150 sec @ f/5; ISO 160


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## BradGrove (Mar 11, 2015)

Self Portrait...LOL!

Canon EOS 7D
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 170mm

1/250sec @ f/4; ISO 100; Cropped


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## rpt (Mar 12, 2015)

BradGrove said:


> Self Portrait...LOL!
> 
> Canon EOS 7D
> Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 170mm
> ...


 ;D ;D ;D ;D

Lovely portraits!


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## BradGrove (Mar 12, 2015)

This woman is actually burning the hair off goat heads as I take this photo. She just looked up and smiled.

Canon EOS 5D MK III
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 200mm

1/500 sec @ f/2.8; ISO 500


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## BradGrove (Mar 12, 2015)

This lovely woman was happy for me to take her photo. You can just tell she is a good person.

Canon EOS 5D MK III
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 105mm

1/100 sec @ f/8; ISO 2000


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## BradGrove (Mar 12, 2015)

I am not sure if this guy was happy for me to take his photo. He just stared straight through me.

Canon EOS 7D
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 200mm

1/400sec @ f/2.8; ISO 100


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## BradGrove (Mar 17, 2015)

Canon EOS 5D MK III
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II @ 185mm

1/500 sec @ f/8; ISO 1250


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## sanj (Mar 17, 2015)

Nice work Bradgrove. The vignetting is done is post or by lighting....


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## BradGrove (Mar 17, 2015)

sanj said:


> Nice work Bradgrove. The vignetting is done is post or by lighting....



Hi ... most of the vignetting in my images is applied during post.


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## YuengLinger (Mar 17, 2015)

Outstanding, BradGrove. Certainly some of the best monochrome and portraiture I've seen on CR, for sure.

This is artistic work, and, because you did post them on a forum especially concerned with GEAR, Canon GEAR, this should be a very strong example of the strengths of the 5DIII and the ef 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II. You have produced work with a classic portraiture look of large format (i.e. 8x10) film using a dSLR. Magnificent.

Too often on this forum we read mindless and endless nitpicking. In my opinion, the 5DIII never got the credit it was due, even though it is very likely one of the very best cameras ever made since the beginning of photography. Its combination of IQ and versatility is astounding.

Thank you so much for this glimpse of lives and faces in a land far from Florida, USA!


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## BradGrove (Mar 17, 2015)

YuengLinger said:


> Outstanding, BradGrove. Certainly some of the best monochrome and portraiture I've seen on CR, for sure.
> 
> This is artistic work, and, because you did post them on a forum especially concerned with GEAR, Canon GEAR, this should be a very strong example of the strengths of the 5DIII and the ef 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II. You have produced work with a classic portraiture look of large format (i.e. 8x10) film using a dSLR. Magnificent.
> 
> ...



Thank you so much for your kind comments. I think the monochrome versions posted here look better than their colour equivalents.


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## bcflood (Apr 14, 2015)

Hi Brad, your portraits are very striking and beautiful. I love how the monochrome plays well with the gentlemen's darker skin tones and white beards. The portraits all seem to have some lore or story behind them and invite the viewer in. 

Out of curiosity, how many shots do you take of each subject (on average) before 'being caught' or moving on?


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