Mental Prep

Braineack

Been spending a lot of time on here!
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Can others edit my Photos
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DSC_0641-1.jpg
 
any C&C welcome.
 
I'm rarely a fan of dark photos, because I have vision issues, so that may be the problem here and others may "get" this just fine.

But I can't see enough of it to process anything about it at all. I can make out some really old looking tires in the foreground, so I'm guessing he's in a garage or something? But then I can't tell what he's holding or what he's doing with his hands, or what that light-colored stuff hanging behind him is. The brightest part of the photo is that white thing that's either in front of him, or he's holding, but I just can't make out what it is.

So, bottom line: The photo just doesn't work for me, but I wouldn't lend a lot of weight to MY opinion, in this instance.
 
The man is so dark against the back wall that it does not "read" very strongly. If you lightened him up a bit, it would have more impact. Runnah's crop helped somewhat, by eliminating the distracting light areas on the left side. Yes, his face is light, but it is so small...perhaps if the image were seen really BIG, it would read a bit more easily, but overall, the gestalt here is slightly muddled. The helmet is dark and does not really show up all that well. The fire suits or whatever compete for attention. Maybe if they were burned down a bit it would help.
 
I like the tighter crop a bit better.


The subject was sitting alone in a car trailer for a race team. you should be able to see he's holding a helmet, and those are race suits behind him.

here's the original image out of the camera:

DSC_0641-38.jpg


I like the darnkess of the image, but I'm having a hard time pulling the brights up without just adding noise; it was shot in RAW.
 
I like it in B&W since it has so little color in the low light anyway; I thought at first it needed to be brightened up but looking again the contrast actually has both black and white in it. Maybe it needs to be cropped to eliminate so much black space and bring the viewer in more to the subject.
 
Like Derrel, I like the crop that runnah did on it, eliminating the light area on the left. The crop works because it eliminates the only other light area in the picture, so now there's nothing to compete with the subject. Now that it's the brightest part of the picture, the eye will naturally be drawn to it. Also, that front rim was a bit too dominant, but the cropping made it more proportional.

Other than that, I like the shot. I tend to like dark shots anyway, but they don't always work. I feel this one does work because you see all that you need to see to understand the moment. You can see the helmet, the tires, the fire suits, and most of all (and this is what the eye is drawn to) you see the look on his face. I'm not particularly bothered by not being able to see more detail in the shadows because I don't need to see any other details. And the darkness adds to the mood set by the look of quiet contemplation on the subject's face.
 
I don't know if I'd crop it quite so square because I like the perspective in the original, I'd too probably crop the left side to eliminate the lighter background but I like seeing more of the shadowy tire - it being larger in the foreground gives a sense of this being behind the scenes, seeing him off a little in the distance.

This is the kind I'd probably do more than one crop version and even print and live with them awhile; coming back to it later can make it stand out what looks best.

I like this the more I look at it.
 

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