Young Man (C&C please)

[kdthomas]

Took this recently, was experimenting with crop and grain, decided to see what would happen. I like this one, would like to hear others' opinion.

 

[The_Traveler]

I think there isn't enough left in the image to make a standalone picture.
What is there to think about a good amount of cap, two indistinct eyes and a clipped off nose?

 

[kdthomas]

Fair enough ... Like I said I was just tinkering, stumbling around w settings and this sort of clicked for me, kind of sat back & thought "hmmmm". I knew it wouldn't be for everyone LOL

 

[The_Traveler]

Not arguing, just that there has to be 'something' to hang technique on.

 

[kdthomas]

Naw didn't get an arguing vibe from you at all ... I value everyone's input, seriously

More to the point there really wasn't much technique here at all more like random toying and then ... "Hmmm. How about that."

This could very well be one of those things that have meaning to me but not others. I just know that I kind of liked looking at it when I stumbled on it

Is there any specific change you think I could make here matbe a different crop etc?... I could post the original SOOC image

 

[The_Traveler]

My biggest issue with heavy editing is that the technique needs to be coherent with the content, reinforcing the message of the content.
That doesn't mean that you can't make something innocent look sinister by the editing, I'm trying to say that the content has to at least allow for the meaning to be pasted on.
In this situation, for me at least, there is so little content that all I am seeing is the effect.
Why so much cap and yet his nose is clipped?
I can't get any feeling from this.

Here is a shot I've always prized loved, taken almost 50 years ago - that exists now only as a small print.
Not great technical quality, not sharp, grainy, defects, blown out highlights but lots of character, I think.

 

[kdthomas]

OK, I get you ... I could see how the hard crop at the nose could be not working ... and it's true there's not that much in the image. Maybe wider? Does this work any better?

Maybe I need to to think about what made me like them cropped and grained this way ... I guess the grain (to me anyway) gave it a ghostly sort of quality, and the crop isolated the eyes.



BTW here is SOOC:

 

[W.Y.Photo]

Another thing about this is that it looks a lot like a crop from a larger image. (I know that it is but I don't think an image should look cropped, aesthetically speaking) I can't imagine any camera taking a picture like this at all. This is probably due to the DoF; its such a close-up yet everything in the image is sharp.

This isn't to say that the rest of the editing is bad, I'm sure that grainy texture would work great with a different image. This picture just doesn't do anything for me standing alone.

Btw, is that Eminem?

 

[W.Y.Photo]

OK, I get you ... I could see how the hard crop at the nose could be not working ... and it's true there's not that much in the image. Maybe wider? Does this work any better?

Maybe I need to to think about what made me like them cropped and grained this way ... I guess the grain (to me anyway) gave it a ghostly sort of quality, and the crop isolated the eyes.

View attachment 93026

BTW here is SOOC:
View attachment 93027

To be honest, I think the SOOC is the best. Try editing it to make for some nice black and white grainy effects. The eyes are already isolated enough due to the stare, but you could do some dodging and burning or contrast adjustments to make them stand out even more

 

[kdthomas]

OK, I get you ... I could see how the hard crop at the nose could be not working ... and it's true there's not that much in the image. Maybe wider? Does this work any better?

Maybe I need to to think about what made me like them cropped and grained this way ... I guess the grain (to me anyway) gave it a ghostly sort of quality, and the crop isolated the eyes.

View attachment 93026

BTW here is SOOC:
View attachment 93027

To be honest, I think the SOOC is the best. Try editing it to make for some nice black and white grainy effects. The eyes are already isolated enough due to the stare, but you could do some dodging and burning or contrast adjustments to make them stand out even more

Well there's this preset called "chocolate B&W", but I tweaked a few other settings as well :

 

[W.Y.Photo]

Hmm.. I like it. That original image is really making me want to see it covered in grain and film imperfections though.

 

[kdthomas]

Funny you should say that ... I PM'd with Lew and got some good advice from him ... hope I got the message, Lew Couldn't quite get the same effect with the eyes, though ...

 

[W.Y.Photo]

The added shadow to the eyes definitely changes the look of the image a lot, I'm not quite sure what you were going for so I'll just say that playing around with it, and erasing and re-doing your edits until you find something you really like is the way to go.

If you want the eyes to be dark but noticeable consider dodging the eyes themselves after adding shadow in order to make them stick out from the rest of the shaded area. You have to be careful with something like that though. Very easy to overdo it.