The Baker's Son

Image Critiques Non-Nature Critiques
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The Baker's Son
The Baker's Son1900×2333 1.16 MB

This was taken in a working historic village called Skansen in Stockholm, Sweden.
These folks are reenacting what life was like during several different time periods, part of the village depicts the mid 18th century era while other parts of the village depict life in the early 20th century era.

This image shows the family living quarters above a bakery from the late 19th century era and is where the baker’s family lived.
The baker’s son shown here is practicing the art of shuffling playing cards as he isn’t interested in working in the bakery alongside his father.
I’m not sure, but I think his mother is working elsewhere in the village as a seamstress.

Type of Critique Requested

  • Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
  • Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
  • Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
  • Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.

Specific Feedback and Self-Critique

This image was converted to B&W and was taken with a wide angle lens which means I wanted to make a few geometric adjustments to make the vertical lines vertical and horizontal lines horizontal.

I added a very slight amount of yellow and red with the color balance layer mask for a little warmer feel.
Does it look natural?
Does it look authentic (antique)?
I also added a bit of film grain and I hope I didn’t overdo it. How does it look to you in that regard?

Technical Details

Sony a6000, 16mm (24mm equivalent in 35mm), f4, 1/60s, ISO 400, PS and ACR for B&W conversion and adjustments.

1 Like
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Hi Merv, This is a terrific slice of early 20th century nostalgia. Your story helps frame and place the scene. I get the feeling. I think your comp is really good too. The cut off son in the doorway works well. Nicely done.

I think you’ve done a great job of converting to B&W. The grain feels fine. Your warming works too, makes it feel like old time film. As an FYI, if you’re looking to get a warm brownish look like they do in Lenswork magazine, you can use the Split Tone tab in the B&W tool. Set the highlights and shadows hue to 39, then set your saturation somewhere less than 10, seasoning to taste. I prefer a subtle warm so my saturation is usually around 2 or 3…

Excellent work on this wonderful scene, Merv. Congratulations.

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Hi David, many thanks for the detailed response!

I wasn’t aware of that tint button, I don’t scan for tools the way I should so thanks for pointing that out, I’m glad I explained how I did it in this one, otherwise you would have assumed that I knew about it.

Set the highlights and shadows hue to 39, then set your saturation somewhere less than 10,

I’m confused about the hue and saturation you mentioned, are you referring to the hue and saturation mask in the adjustments panel? Or am I missing something else?

warm brownish look like they do in Lenswork magazine

I must confess, I have never seen any of the Lenswork magazines, online or in print, is that bad?

I’ve never used publications or famous photographers as influence for my photography or my processing, and I’m just not a magazine person (that’s probably not good either).

My guide has always been “Whatever looks and feels right” and it depends on the subject matter.
For example, this image is a glimpse into the distant past so I wanted it to look like it was taken with a camera from that era. I feel that if I had of left it clean looking with no grain and everything was in sharp focus, it would look like I had somehow traveled back in time with a modern camera to get the shot.

The image I posted of the elderly lady asking for help with funding a heart surgery, that was a modern times image and I felt that a cooler tone with good focus was appropriate, the B&W treatment added to the sense of how thin the line is between life and death.

Every image is different and some just look good in B&W based on the usual suspects like shape, texture and contrast. :slight_smile:

None of the above is unique in any way, just sharing my thoughts about what motivates me. :slight_smile:

I appreciate the detailed feedback, David! It is all valuable information to me.

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I Merv, I didn’t mean to confuse you with the Split Tone info. Adobe is probably different, but in Capture One, the B&W tool has two tabs, one for B&W conversion and another for Split Tone:

Screenshot 2023-02-24 at 3.27.54 PM
Screenshot 2023-02-24 at 3.27.54 PM698×472 48.5 KB

While you can adjust the highlights and shadows separately, setting them the same gives you a consistent tone to your image.

Regarding Lenswork, it’s a very unique publication that highlights B&W imagery and portfolios. Here’s a link: Lenswork

I have been a subscriber of the hard copy magazines for years, but recently switched to the online version.

Don’t let the online pubs or other opinions steer you to much. Take the advice and suggestions and then use what you feel works for you.

Cheers,
David

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I think you’ve done a good job with the color and grain here, and I like the squaring up of horizontal and vertical elements, but a couple of things jump out at me. The bright rectangle in the LL pulls my eye and would be easy to darken a bit. I like the composition at the top edge but it makes the bottom feel too cut off, to me. If there is no chance of including the bottom edge of the door, I wonder about a tighter crop to just above the door frame.

If you shot other compositions, the perspective distortion from aiming the lens down can be fixed in PS.

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Hi Merv! As I scrolled past this I thought ‘huh someone has posted a vintage photo on NPN’ so I had to read your description. I think that look is difficult to achieve and you did a nice job getting it. The framing through the door is nice as well.

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Hi David,

Thanks for that, at first I thought you were referring to features within Ps that I was missing. Adobe is quite different but having seen your screenshot of the adjustment panel in Capture One makes me wish that Ps had a similar method.
There are ways to do the same thing in Ps but with different tools and more steps and effort.

Here’s a screenshot of the Ps B&W edit tool. It has the small box that I can check to use any tint I want (the box I overlooked), then I can use the Hue/Saturation mask in the adjustments panel for further enhancement, highlights and shadows can be adjusted to some degree with the color sliders but Capture One has made it easier for sure.

Black and White Color Adjustment Panel in Ps
Black and White Color Adjustment Panel in Ps320×526 42.9 KB

Thanks for the link to Lenswork, I’ll check it out for sure. They may have a few ideas that I’d like to include in my own work.

Don’t let the online pubs or other opinions steer you to much.

No worries there, the old saying: “Take what you need and leave the rest” applies to more than just food and general goods :smiley:

I really appreciate it, David, (as always) :slight_smile:

1 Like
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Hi Diane,

Yeah, I felt that more of the bottom would have been better as well but this was the best I could get from the original file.
The short doors from that era played a role in my framing though, I wanted to show the tray ceiling shape and height to make up for the short door and frame.
The gentleman sitting in the chair had to duck down to make it through that door when he walked through it (he was about 6’ tall, so, average for modern times), I guess people really were shorter back then :slight_smile:
According to a study I read, the average height of men in the 19th century was only 5’-5" (65 inches or 167cm). Even shorter for women.
It’s an interesting bit of historic trivia :slight_smile:

I appreciate the constructive critique and advice for post processing, it’s all good information :slight_smile:

I really appreciate the comments and the kind words as well! :slight_smile:

Hi Cameron,

Thank you for your comments and the kind words!

The only program I have for good film grain is Lr, they have a way to adjust the amount, size and roughness of the grain and that’s important to me when trying to replicate grain in images like this.
Ps and ACR don’t really have any adjustments for grain (that are easily done that is).

From your comment and comments by others, I think I can take it that I met my goal of making it look like it had been taken with a camera from the same era as depicted in the scene.

Thanks again, Cameron, I appreciate it :slight_smile:

All feedback and constructive critique is helpful to me!