Black Country Museum Again !

 

Black Country Museum Again !

 

On Sunday, I went to Smethwick Photographic Society for the Permajet lecturer`s day. Eleven lecturer`s covering a wide range of subject material. A very enjoyable day, and some great photography on show. I decided to stay in the area overnight, and the following morning paid a visit to the Black County Museum in Dudley, -one of my favourite locations for portrait photography.
 

  Because the BBC had a film crew on site, (recording for a forthcoming reality series), part of the museum was closed. They had started filming at 5.00am, and were filming through most of the day, so access was restricted in certain areas until after lunchtime.  

 

It was quite noticeable the difference between the people who normally work at the museum, and the `extras` that the BBC were using for the filming. The normal staff who work at the museum wear the correctly styled `outfits` for the period and location. The outfits they wear are quite clean compared to the `extras` ,whose clothes looked as if they had not been washed for a couple of months. It certainly made quite a stark comparison !

 

I did manage to get one or two quite reasonable shot though. All images taken with a Canon 5D Mark III, and 17mm lens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an HDR shot. Maybe a bit over the top, and not to everyone taste, but for this sort of dereliction shot, I think it works O.K.

 

This shows two variations of the portrait, -one as a mono conversion, and the other in colour. I think I prefer the mono version, but others may prefer the colour. I have included the `original raw image` to show the post processing. 

 

 

 

Below is the Original `raw image`, -as shot, no alterations. The `noise` was reduced in Lightroom, and it was sharpened with the `clarity` slider before being opened up into Photoshop CS5. Firstly, the image was cropped slightly. Then I took out the reflection in the painting on the wall, and the painting sticking out of the top of the lady`s head. Also the lamp shade in the top of the picture was removed. The bright pink cloth on the edge of the table has been de-saturated, and the loaf and breadboard, which were also on the table have been cloned out. The lady had a very `blood shot eye`, which has been repaired, and the image has also had some contrast added with a Topaz filter .(Topaz Detail) The edges of the background has been heavily `burnt in` to concentrate the centre of interest onto the subject. The mono version was converted using Silver FX software.