Opinions welcomed..Image imbeded.

CJ76 · Sep 20, 2005

Hi Ive just purchased myself a camera & am interested in developing my skills, as such knowing that Iam a novice Im turning to those of you that can guide me & point out the right & wrongs. All critiques appreciated.

With this pick I was trying for the mood of lonelyness, I think maybe a greater DOF may have helped achieve this...or a may be way off... Thoughts ???OTE

elsapo · Sep 20, 2005

I'd give it a little more space, though I like the horizontal (extreme) feel. I also like that you're low to the ground shooting this one. Mostly it needs some more contrast, I think. But in my opinion you did capture a feeling of lonliness. Do you have frames where we can more clearly see his face?

eydryan · Sep 20, 2005

i would have liked the face to be higher, this way it kinda gets lost inside the body, it is too crouched. i like the panoramic look and also the trashy background but i don;t appreciate the pose of the character as i said higher.

Nikon Fan · Sep 20, 2005

What's the original look like w/o it being cropped? Just curious is there was another way to crop that would give more of a feeling of space that you're wanting. Also I think it could use a touch more contrast as well...like the idea you're going for with this one, and the placement on the man is nice as well

CJ76 · Sep 21, 2005

Thanks for the replys, much appreciated.
Here's a copy of the original. As you can seethe light at the bottom was of concern & the sign's & extraat the top just seemed a bit trashy. I like the Idea of seeing more of his face!! in retrospect that would certainly added to the mood of the image.
Thanks again.

elsaspet · Sep 21, 2005

I would have liked to have seen it closer in on the man. I also agree that you need a bump of contrast there.

CJ76 · Sep 21, 2005

Link to original

http://www.photo.net/photos/C.J.

elsaspet · Sep 21, 2005

Hi again. Ok, here is my take:

I took out room on the left side. I felt that too much background was taking away from your subject. I though the distance in the back was enough to tell the story. Your levels were off, so I did a little jog to make your subject "pop" more. I bumped up the contrast a hair to bring out shadow detail.

elsaspet · Sep 21, 2005

And here again with a take on your original photo:

eydryan · Sep 21, 2005

i like the original better than any of the others

CJ76 · Sep 21, 2005

Elsaspet, I like those changes. So when you say you gave the levels a jog, what is it your looking at??? You mentioned Shadows is this to add depth etc?
Just trying to get my head around this, I personalythink B&W images can be extremley strong but I cant personally cant put my finger on what it is that makes them that way.

Chris.

elsaspet · Sep 21, 2005

Hi Chris, glad you like it. If you open your levels dialog box, you will see the histogram for your image. Basically, I moved the black arrow to the right and the white to the left and the gray just a tad to the right. Play with that and you will see how the image will start to become more three dimensional. A slight (only about 8 points) bump in the contrast brought out shadow detail, and reinforces the depth. Auto levels and contrast can be used for this, but they tend to be on the "safe" side, so I use them manually for more impact. Your gallery seems to be photojournalistic in nature. Nicely done, BTW. With Photojournalism, you will always want to go with a higher contrast image.
Anyhoo, lovely photograph and I think you have a definate talent.

Nikon Fan · Sep 21, 2005

After seeing the original image I really like it, and created a few versions to see what you thought. I went with your idea of tring to emphasize him being lonely. I think the rest of the original helps that idea bit more, so I didn't crop it but burned the bottom in a bit darker on the images, then did some different techniques, you may totally hate them and that's cool with me, I just always like a good challenge

Black and White using channel mixer layer, high contrast to really emphasize the surroundings

Used an action in PS on this one, the Dragan Action

This was done w/another action, and then some of my own tweaking...

Again if you hate them I don't mind...I just enjoy a good edit when I have the time

Nikon Fan · Sep 21, 2005

After seeing the black and white posted here it looks completely different...very blown out, so it definitely needs some toning down, but you get the idea