Which one and C&C

adamjenzerr · Aug 13, 2011

1

2

BuS_RiDeR · Aug 13, 2011

#2. I think his face looks a bit off color/tone in #1.

Neiby · Aug 13, 2011

I'd like to see #1 with a little more contrast, but I'm a total noob, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

BNHPhotography · Aug 13, 2011

I hope you don't mind, i uploaded your photo to lightroom and played with it a little. I increased the clarity to 100, recovery to 100 to try to make his wrinkles stand out more, dropped the exposure and brightness a tad, and increased the contrast, and cropped a little more

I also applied the 'most wanted' free preset that i had downloaded for the look of the photo. It looks good without the preset, i thought it gave it a little more, umph. I'm a noob, too, i just like to try to help when i can. I would LOVE to do something like this with my dad, but he's too much of a goob to keep a straight face! haha

rlemert · Aug 13, 2011

I'm generally not a fan of black and white, but I think it works very well for this picture. The only problem is that the original has no character - no "soul". You might as well have taken a picture of anyone off the street. That's why BNH's edit works for me. This man has lived a hard life, and the picture needs every wrinkle to make that clear.

adamjenzerr · Aug 14, 2011

Where did you get the preset

earthmanbuck · Aug 14, 2011

My only complaint with either of the original ones was that his face was too bright and the wrinkles too indistinct, so I think the edit was a good move for the picture.

BNHPhotography · Aug 14, 2011

adamjenzerr said:
Where did you get the preset

It has been so long, I'm sorry, I don't remember. I tried to google it to find it again, with no luck. Try searching for 'free lightroom presets' there will be tons to choose from, most are crap and over-do everything, but there are a few that are decent with some tweaking.

The_Traveler · Aug 14, 2011

earthmanbuck said:
My only complaint with either of the original ones was that his face was too bright and the wrinkles too indistinct, so I think the edit was a good move for the picture.

and his hand too prominent.

adamjenzerr · Aug 14, 2011

Ya the problem was that this guy was just sitting there. I couldent really ask him to move around for me lol.

KmH · Aug 14, 2011

adamjenzerr said:
1

2

I edited the color version, straightened it, cropped it, did some this and that using ACR and CS5, and also made a toned B&W version too.

The toned version:

adamjenzerr · Aug 14, 2011

ok i tried to get the same look with no luck. Very frusutrating. can anyone help

KmH · Aug 14, 2011

There is no way to acquire instant knowledge. I have 26 books that deal with image editing on a shelf next to my image editing workstation. I have read them all at least 3 times each cover-to-cover (some as many as 6 times ), and keep them handy for reference.

How many image editing books have you read?

How many photography books have you read?