Shot with Canon 5D, 200mm f/2.8L II
@ 200mm, f/2.8, ISO 640, 1/400s

I’m not exactly a proponent of smoking – cigarettes stink, and they will, slowly and painfully, kill you. Nonetheless, there’s just something about seeing someone puff on a cigarette when they’re all alone in the streets of the big city. Absolutely oblivious to the world around them as they indulge in their selfish little micro-suicidal pleasure.

This was one of those shots where I had an opportunity to look at my subject for more than a split second – by which I mean I had like 3-5 seconds to observe. It’s surprising the impressions (maybe they’re judgments) you can take away from such a brief encounter.

In this case, I got the impression that this guy has seen better times. I could only guess what the specific circumstances are, but that’s half the fun (sorry, street-smoker-guy).

Processing for this shot started out with my custom Lightroom preset Grayscale, Portrait 2. From there, it got a little more complicated. This was a VERY high contrast scene, so I had to do lot to keep shadow and highlight details in check throughout. So I proceeded by adjusting the color temperature and then tweaking each color in the grayscale mix. Then tweaking it some more. Then I adjusted the exposure and tint a bit, followed by another color temperature tweak. Some tone curve adjustments. I rounded things out with a bunch of brush strokes to adjust exposures (mainly bringing exposure down on the subject to pull in clipped highlights), and then cropped the image.

Shot with Canon 5D, 200mm f/2.8L
@ 200mm, f/2.8, ISO 640, 1/6400s

As I’ve mentioned before, I traveled to NYC on this photo trip with some very specific ideas for images in my head. I knew there would be a lot of great opportunities I couldn’t possibly anticipate, but it really helps to be prepared.

This is one of those images I had in my head before the trip. Usually, the idea is loosely translated into the final image, simply because an opportunity will represent itself however it wants and you don’t get to pick placement of people/objects in candid street photography. But in this case, the end result is almost exactly what I’d imagined. Antonio was just in the right place at the right time for me.

To get this shot (and many others like it) I positioned myself on a street corner, leaning against the pole of a stoplight. In NYC, you’ll see a lot of interesting characters if you just chill on a street corner for a while. I mean, you can run about the city like a maniac chasing down interesting subjects if you like, but it’s much more enjoyable, and relaxing, doing it my way. And it gives you time to compose your shot carefully and anticipate the subject’s movement as they walk towards you on the street.

Processing, as usual, was done completely in Lightroom. I started out with my custom Lightroom preset, Grayscale, Portrait 2. (I’ll make this preset available for download soon.) I then added a graduated filter to increase exposure in the top of the frame, tweaked the grayscale mix, and then I brushed in exposure adjustments on the subject and the background for visual separation.

Shot with Canon 5D, 200mm f/2.8L II
@ 200mm, f/2.8, ISO 640, 1/1250s

I was lucky enough to catch this courier just as he was putting on his helmet to make some more deliveries on his little Yamaha Riva scooter. Right before I clicked the shutter for this one, I chuckled to myself at the thought of Eddie Izzard (comedian) and the way he says ‘Ciao’ – which happens to be my informal title for this one.

Processing began with my custom Lightroom preset, Grayscale, Portrait 2 and then I proceeded to crop at an 8×10 ratio rather than a 2×3 ratio to get a bit closer and lose some empty, boring space. I used some brush strokes to add in some Clarity for better contrast in the midtones of the subject, and then I added just a little bit of sharpening.