Acros(g) for portraits

My workplace asked for a headshot to update their website, so I decided to try a casual BW shot with little drama. I kept the lighting even with low contrast by facing almost straight at a large window, and took this shot with the X-T20 and 50-140mm f2.8. These are all jpegs SOOC.

This was shot with auto WB, and shows every version of Acros as well as Monochrome, with highlights set to -1, shadows at -1, noise reduction at -3, and sharpening at -1 in all conversions. To me it looks like Acros(g) is the clear winner when it comes to skin tones. If I had a re-do, I would stand a little more sideways to the window to slightly increase the fall off of light on the left side of the face. I erred a little too much on the side of low contrast, as I was not looking for that really stern, grizzled BW effect.

Acros (no filter)

Acros(yellow)

Acros(red)

Acros(green)

Monochrome

herc182 wrote:

Green filter is supposed to be more favourable for portraits?

Generally speaking, a green filter will give slightly darker skin with enhancement of imperfections (wrinkles, blemishes, etc.). It's often preferred for portraits of men to give them a more rugged look. But it's not usually a flattering look for women unless they have creamy-smooth and very pale skin.

I used mostly Green contrast filters on film and this personal adjustment of yours to the Acros green filter looks perfect for your brief. Good detail and skin tone without harshness.

I never bothered with film sims before Acros but now I often use Acros as my starting point for BW development.

Nice work.

Vic

DogShot wrote:

I really like the way all the film simulations can be manipulated, so I suspect that any of the Acros simulations can ultimately be used for portraits, depending on the effect you are looking for. One thing this comparo shows is that that for gentle gradations in skin tones, the yellow and red filters are not suitable. The vanilla Acros does a nice job, but the green shows more tonality. I was also impressed by the monochrome version for smooth tonality.

That is what I would expect - red tends to increase contrast.

This is a good article on Acros by Damien Lovegrove. He goes into details on the different filters and uses as well as his settings and workflow.

https://www.prophotonut.com/2016/02/21/acros-film-simulation-with-the-fuji-x-pro2/