Man at the Sea
Jan 27, 2015 07:58:04 #
B/W conversion not being my strong point, I messed with this until I finally got sick of it. There are a number of flaws, but it's the best can do at this time. Your critiques and suggestions are most welcome.
Jan 27, 2015 08:43:45 #
photoninja1 wrote:
B/W conversion not being my strong point, I messed with this until I finally got sick of it. There are a number of flaws, but it's the best can do at this time. Your critiques and suggestions are most welcome.
First of all I think this could or can be great shot. This guy looks relaxed and happy to be photographed which is half the battle over.
Its showing signs of a lot of PP work around his sweatshirt where it meets the sea. You got a big problem with the spectacles so hope you took some more shots of him to copy and paste new bits of glasses frame etc in.
Along the way you lost texture in his forehead and contrast. His skin almost matches the sky. The horizon passing through his ears is not ideal but with some other things fixed you would have got away with it.
This man has a good presence a fantastic salt and pepper hair color with a wonderful beard. Hijack him get him back on that beach and shoot it again. Take 20 shots so you have material to use if you need it. You will have a winner.
Get it perfect in color and only then convert it to B/W. Mono is not at all forgiving if you try and PP after conversion. This wisdom comes from bitter experience!!!!
Jan 27, 2015 11:18:43 #
Many thanks for the critique. You make some very good points. That thing with the glasses seems to be an artifact I picked up when I boosted contrast. About the sweatshirt and the sea; I couldn't get the selection and masking right because of similarity of color with the sea. I'm not sure what I could do about it. I tried magnetic lasso, lasso, and refine edge with fairly poor results.
Jan 27, 2015 18:39:46 #
photoninja1 wrote:
Many thanks for the critique. You make some very good points. That thing with the glasses seems to be an artifact I picked up when I boosted contrast. About the sweatshirt and the sea; I couldn't get the selection and masking right because of similarity of color with the sea. I'm not sure what I could do about it. I tried magnetic lasso, lasso, and refine edge with fairly poor results.
Do not try and select the shirt or the sea but use a soft brush at reduced opacity to brush the details in that you want. Do the clonining on a few different layers so you can go back and adjust anything you need to. It takes time and requires patience but will hide any PP work you do and look natural.
How famiiar are you with Photoshop cos there is another way?
Jan 27, 2015 19:54:04 #
photoninja1 wrote:
B/W conversion not being my strong point, I messed with this until I finally got sick of it. There are a number of flaws, but it's the best can do at this time. Your critiques and suggestions are most welcome.
I think the strongest part about this image is the man's beard. If you could somehow highlight this? Sorry, I don't know how---just thinking out loud. I agree with others that it looks over-cooked. I would do some basic post processing before turning it into B&W, then work on the beard. The exposure (outside of your creative eye) doesn't seem to "flow" naturally. Regardless, this image has great potential. Thanks for letting us critique. -Mark
Jan 27, 2015 22:06:51 #
I took some of your critiques and suggestions and rolled them into a new effort, but when I saw the B\W conversion I felt that it lacked something. After experimenting for a while, I ended up with a split tone. I guess by the rules I have to enter it on a new thread so please see Man at the Sea II. PN1
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