HOW WE RECREATED THE PICTURE

1 Makeup

Dent’s makeup is typical of the time, the eyes being the main focus thanks to heavy eyeliner, eye shadow and false lashes, which we’ve tried to replicate. Take an umbrella to protect the model from the elements, as hair and makeup can be ruined in seconds.

2 Light

A reflector was key to providing catch-lights in the eye, and sufficient fill-in light to the model’s face and garments. We used a white reflector but had a silver one handy in case the light levels dropped and we needed to add some more punch to the lighting.

3 Shooting in public

Shooting in a public place can be tricky. With a large number of people milling around, shooting with a tripod is not an option. Get a friend to stand in as an assistant, not only to keep an eye on your gear but also to hold reflectors and assist with crowd control.

4 Open in ACR

We opened the raw file in Adobe Camera Raw to make some exposure adjustments in the Basic tab. We increased the Exposure and Shadows value to lighten the main subject and reveal more detail in the shadows. We then reduced the Highlights and Whites to bring some cloud detail back in the sky.

5 Convert to mono

We converted the image to Black and White in Adobe Camera Raw by selecting the HSL/Grayscale tab. Check Convert to Grayscale and use the sliders to adjust the tones. We increased the Reds and Oranges to brighten the model’s skin tone, and decreased the Blues to reveal more sky detail.

6 Crop

Duffy positioned his model, Judy Dent, on the first third point in his composition on the left hand side, so we used the Crop tool to replicate this. We selected the Original Ratio crop size and the Rule of Thirds Overlay option from the Crop tool options to help reposition our model within the frame.

7 Tidy up

Unfortunately, there is a rather large, distracting sign stuck to the post that needs removing. We copied and pasted small selections of the post from above the sign to cover. By adding a Layer Mask to these layer selections we could tidy them up and finally we used the Clone Stamp tool to blend.

8 Increase contrast

Add a Levels adjustment layer to boost the overall contrast of the image. To remap the black and white points, you can adjust the Shadows and Highlights sliders to meet the edges of the graph. You can also tweak the Midtones slider to adjust the overall lightness of the scene to suit.

9 Dodge and Burn

Finally, add more tonal detail using the Dodge and Burn tools. First create a merged layer to work on. Select the Dodge tool and set to Midtones at an Exposure of 20% to lighten the darkest shadows in the jacket. Switch to use the Burn tool and set to Midtones at 20% to darken the brightest areas of the sky.