[Rainer.]

If I were to do my own RC on these...

dogfood

IMO, this shot is rather pedestrian. It's straight on, the cow is centered, it's just a rather bland shot of the animal. Some things that could have made the photo more interesting is moving in closer to the animal or zooming in, perhaps changing your perspective to something more interesting, and I also would have taken out as much unnecessary background as possible. The picture really just doesn't need so much excess stuff around the cow.

natedawg5280

In this one, I think the composition was messy. The background isn't really adding anything to the picture. Now, if you moved a couple feet to the right, you probably could have framed the subject with the buildings or the truck, but as it is, and with the longer depth of field, what you're getting is the buildings cutting across the subject's head, and the truck has apparently no purpose, and just runs into the hands. The light would also probably be a bit more interesting if it was on a bit more of the subjects face, rotating him a bit, and then also showing more texture in the jacket. I'd prob ably also like to say something about the fact that the subject is centered, which is more passable on portraits than something like still life, but I think it adds a lot to put the subject off center when trying to use something interesting in the background.

RipVanWinkle

I'd just say that I think the colors are a bit unnatural, and I know why that happened, but if I had the image, I'd be tempted to just convert it to B&W, and take the color element out of it completely. I like the background. I might have personally asked him to take his hands out of his jeans pocket, but I guess if it suits him, it suits him.


And since I'm now a mod in these parts, I'll start sticking whatever contest thread is current.

[ApparentlyNothing]

Jeff, would you mind if I took a stab at what I might do with the photo with post-processing and show it here?

[RipVanWinkle]

sure

[ApparentlyNothing]

I attached the jpg of my edit and also the PSD in a zip file so you can see what I did.

Essentially, I first took Jon's suggestion and made it black and white. The yellow lighting being so overpowering, there really wasn't any other colors present to work with, so black and white felt like the best option rather than trying to white balance the yellow lighting. Then I added a little split toning effect with color balance, adding some blue to the shadows and yellow to the highlights. I felt like it created a little more subtle depth to the photo. Finally, I felt like the photo felt really busy with all the lines in the brick wall, the lines in his coat, the telephone wire, etc. It was hard to focus on what you wanted focused, the subject. So, I added a subtle vignette to help draw the eye to the subject and ease some of the distracting elements of the background.

This is obviously just my opinion on how the photo might look best. Take it or leave it.

[RipVanWinkle]

Cool.

I would have done something like that (and did try it), but I though the yellow gave it a certain 'feel' that b&w lost. (You're in Katy TX?!)

I'll see what I can come up with for the next contest...

[ApparentlyNothing]

Originally Posted by RipVanWinkle

Cool.

I would have done something like that (and did try it), but I though the yellow gave it a certain 'feel' that b&w lost. (You're in Katy TX?!)

I'll see what I can come up with for the next contest...

True. I don't think the yellow necessarily made it worse. The yellow actually helped with getting a sense of the environment, because I knew right when I saw it that it was the tungsten lights of the city. Perhaps with more images in the series, that would be an even greater impact overall. Just thought I'd take a stab and see what it looked like black and white too.

And yeah, I'm living here for now. I'm originally from here, but was in Illinois for a few years for college, and am back for a few months.

[Dice]

haha, i'm so lazy i never got around to submitting this, but you can look if you want

[ApparentlyNothing]

Originally Posted by Dice

haha, i'm so lazy i never got around to submitting this, but you can look if you want

That's too bad. I like it.

[Ordinary Sarah]

Ooh, I like that one, too. I would've voted for that on the spot. I like her expression a lot.