Getting a 'hard' look?

[Lautermilch]

I do portraits and have been asking to photograph bartenders in a local 'dive' bar so I am looking to do some 'hard' style images. Any presets or actions I can get for doing images like this person is doing - https://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalgrace/

 

[BF Hammer]

I see mainly desaturated to b&w with extra contrast. Shooting film they would use a red filter on lens to add more contrast. You can apply a red filter in the post-processing when converting to b&w.

Use less diffused lighting, more direct light. Sharpen rather than soften details like what is more traditional with portraits.

Edit: I looked more carefully at the link. Only a couple of the portraits are embracing a harsher light setup. Mostly he is lighting his models normally with some diffusion. But I think a snoot on a strobe would add some mood.

 

[hark]

What are you using for editing? If it's Llightroom or Camera RAW, they have profiles such as Camera Standard or Adobe Vivid. Each one produces a different amount of contrast and color as soon as it is chosen. But those images are a higher contrast.

 

[Clovishound]

I think you will find that it is going to be more about post processing, than how they are shot. I have a couple pics I shot of my neighbor's grandkids, and they have somewhat of the same look. I didn't do anything special. They were shot outside, later in the afternoon, so there was no direct sun. I edited them in Lightroom, and the best were the ones I converted to B&W using the B&W option, then I used the individual color sliders in their B&W editor to get the look I wanted. I'm not saying they were anywhere nearly as good as the ones you linked to, just had a similar look, or feel to them.

I would say to do an experimental shoot, then see what you can come up with, and work from there.