Even though this guy is in the foreground, he seems engulfed in shadow in that dark suit. I like the nearly-invisible guitar strings at the top of the neck.

For fun, I backed away from my monitor and it feels like you're peeking at him through a cut-out in a box.

I like this photo; I like the shadow the hat casts on his eyes and I like the dark color (er, black) of his shirt and his hat.

Hey, nice to see how the new slr can bring out the face so nicely via depth of field! And -- always happy to see more of your people shots, Dave!

Excellent! Love the shadow and depth of field.

I've actually promised myself to take more people photos as well.

... Is this that guy from the backstreet boys? :) The big tall one that looks like David Copperfield.. (just joking)

Have just read your comments, and thought I should come forth from the shadows and leave one for a change!

I, I'm afraid, fall into 'that' catagory you decribe - I think all your shots are good (bit of understatement there) if not fantastic - but just saying so seems, well, a little redundant? I'm sure you have loads of visitors who are as impressed with your photos as I (we) are - but don't leave that little comment saying as much...

So! Have liked them all since I found you!

This one? Personally, I would have cropped it at the base of the geetar and left the legs out, making it more of a portrait type photo... ;) but it's a shot to be proud of, as are your others.

Looking forward to the next slice of photo-heaven in my mailbox - Rgds, db

while i still wish you would come to the darkside of film, i'm excited that at least you are shooting 50mm. <3.

Give me more crap like that beach a couple days ago.

Was the purpose of this to get reactions to experimentation? If so, you got mine. But otherwise, you've been doing this long enough that you should be listening to YOU, baby, not others.

I'll bet you can see every hair on this guy's face in the original image. Nice shot. Looks good with the dark style sheet.

Very cool shot. I think the composition and DoF are dead on. Did you shoot this in the B&W mode, or just do it in post processing? Your shots from the 20D are impressive and I can't wait to see what you start posting after you become more comfortable with the camera.

I know the feeling. I got my 20D on Monday. Its my first SLR (digital or film) its taking me some time to get oriented. I guess my hands are used to the A80 I was using before. It doesn't matter I'm having a great time learning.

Again, great shots.

Can I be the lone voice to say that I think this is my least favourite on your impressive site?

If I have to describe your work, I'd say it has a crispness to it, which is lacking here. Maybe its the composition, even the subject matter. I don't know.

Definitely different from your usual offerings on the site. I'd al;most be tempted to say that this is more like my style.

There is a black and white mode on the 20D Ben?
the 10D doesn't seem to have one.. unless i am missing something somewhere.

Another stunner! I use a Nikon D100 and that doesn't have a black & white mode, I wish it did sometimes as I really find it hard which to convert to B&W and which would look better in colour, I'd rather make the choice when I take the photo.

Still, I think you've probably made the right choice here and to echo the comments of someone above, I also love the almost invisible strings at the neck and a nice contrasty feel to it aswell.

Stonking.

You must have been fairly close to him to use a 50mm lens (though I suppose it's effectively about 80mm due to the sensor crop); did he notice you taking it?

I'm not sure the change is that small, but I sure like it. Excellent portrait. I think it's well composed and you nailed the DoF. I'm really looking forward to seeing more.

Thanks.

Joe: I know you also made a recent switch to a DSLR, but I don't know if you feel the same way, but somehow I feel more confident pointing it at people than I did with my G5 ... not sure why.

miklos: no, it's David Copperfield ;-)

ian: no chance ;-) Well, not at the moment at least.

Frank: at the moment I'm still pondering where to go next, and the new camera has left me not quite sure what I should be shooting. For the time being at least I guess things may well be a bit experimental.

Ben: I don't think the 20D has a b&w mode.

leon: I think, possibly, that a part of the issue here is that the G5, other than in macro mode, has a huge depth of field; i.e. almost everything is in focus. I purposely shot this at f1.8 because I wanted to focus on his face.

photojunkie: yes, I agree.

Andy: in my experience with the G5, which did have a b&w mode, you're much better off using PS to convert the image afterwards - you have much more control over the final result.

Mark: I was about 10' away, and I'd already asked him if it was ok to take his photograph.

David, there appears to be a marked improvement in image quality here (obviously you expect that) but it seems very evidant even at this small size. Or is it just me? All good becuase I'll be getting a 20D soon.

As for taking pictures of people I have been doing just that for the entire week over on my site. Comments always welcome ;-)

Out of interest for those reading, the 20D does have a B&W mode and "real-time" coloured filters to simulate the effects of Red Green and Blue filters with black and white film, which should give the same result as extracting R,G or B colour channels from a colour image. I'm looking forward to these features becuase I find it difficult to visualise a shot in B&W sometimes and seeing how the result might look after processing means you can decide if the shot is worth dwelling on.

Oops, I stand corrected. All of which is a good reminder that reading the manual is normally a good idea ;-) Thanks Mike.

I adore this - both on its own and as a piece of your overall body of work. It looks like a CD insert. You oughtta give the guy a print of it, I bet this is exactly how he pictures himself. ;-)

Good for you for not letting your audience impede your process! I've been experimenting with a new camera too and until today everything I've posted this week has been crap. I was thinking about NOT posting the crap but decided no- this is a learning curve and no one is paying to look at my site. Of course they pay me in comments but you know what I mean. I'm rambling. LOL Where was I going with that?

Oh yes I was thinking what a luxury it is sometimes that my site isn't crazy popular. You have the advantage of this kind of dialog - but it seems like this kind of popularity also creates pressure to please. Which makes your openness and determination to stay true to the creative process all the more impressive.

I'll bet you this guy, at that very moment, didn't have a care in the world. What a fantastic way to capture his peace.

AJ

Different for you, but I love it still. You have some amazing versatility. Great composition and tones. Though I prefer the the depth of field to be just a tad wider... i'd be nice to have those scragly guitar strings by the tuning pegs in sharper detail.

east3rd: yes, I agree, it would have been better if the guitar's neck had been in focus too. At the moment though I'm still delighted to have a camera that does have some DoF - it will take a bit of getting used to after the G5 ;-)

i've noticed that your most recent pictures are edgier than the old ones, is this intentional or just experimentation? reminds me some of the pictures is www.quarlo.com - not tht i think that he's necessarily more consistent in capturing 'the moment' than you, his in my opinion is greatly hit or miss - but when he hits it... what wonder and beauty!

I disagree about the guitar's neck - if it had been totally crisp this would've looked like a model up against a studio backdrop.

All of this overanalasys is hilarious. Dave, you've managed to put yourself in such a position that no matter what you shoot will be considered "lovely" and "majestic" .. Post a picture of some doggy doo you find on the street, I'd love to see the comments.

(all that said, I do like this shot .. but not as much as some of your creative pieces)

santino: yes, I guess I've deliberately moved towards more 'edgy' images.

miklos: in defence of those who comment (not that they need me to intercede on their behalf) ...

I currently get around 3000+ visits each day, so if 20 people comment (which is a really good day as far as I'm concerned), at least a couple of thousand don't (I don't know how many unique visitors I get each day so have to assume that most people only visit once). On that basis it's a relatively small proportion who are prompted to comment. The other thing, I guess, is that there's a tendency when visiting other people's blogs or photoblogs to only comment if you have something positive to say. And while I welcome critical commentaries I'm not so sure I'd enjoy people just saying that they thought something was crap.

All of which is a rather long-winded way of saying that if I did post a picture of "some doggy doo" I suspect that it wouldn't attract many comments at all ;-)

Wow the 20 D has a black and white mode... I hope they build this into the 10D firmware.

When I shoot black and white film... the viewfinder is still in colour ;-)

LOL If anyone could take a comment-worthy pic of dog doo, it's djn. :-P

Honestly, I think you get a lot of comments because you solicit in-depth feedback and engage in a conversation with your visitors. I've thought about asking you to secretly post one of my pics here just so I can get such a great analysis of what works and what doesn't. ;-)