Taken at the Ionia Free Fair. His name is Charlie Brown he is an old school black smith. I spent about an hour with him on July the 25th watching what he did and he taught me things about how things are done being a black smith. Well I couldnt think of a good idea for this challenge till the morning of July 26th. I thought about seeing Charlie again in the evening and the time I enjoyed with him the previous night. Finally at 4:00pm it struck me tools of the trade anvil, metal, hammer, fire, wow and Charlie. I went over and asked if I could photograph him and this man said to asked me "Why" and I told him for DPC and what DPC was about and he told me "Is it your hobbie?" At which point I realized just like being a Black Smith was his and photography was mine. He let me shoot him. I shot about 200+ images that evening. I mentioned to Charlie that I would give him the originals to the pictures and Charlie said to me "dont worry I will sign a release form for you"
He just flat out amazed me and what he tried to teach me only comes through time, dedication, passion.
As far as the editing.
Started by croping to compose.
Curves Layer to adjust color correct
Channel mixer layer to convert to Black and white
Brightness/Contrast layer to get some depth and tones.
Save as psd file
resave psd file for testing as another name
added black border to give a pop to the image
Resized for DPC
Smart Sharpen using CS2
Save for web for DPC.
Statistics
Place: 5 out of 342 Avg (all users): 6.5254 Avg (commenters): 8.5789 Avg (participants): 6.4634 Avg (non-participants): 6.5752 Views since voting: 3174 Views during voting: 394 Votes: 276 Comments: 28 Favorites: 2 (view)
Well, this a slight effort to bump what's his face comments down a bit. Congratualtions on a top five finish. I love the capture of the mood. He seems to be intent on his work, yet have great care at the same time. Cheers!
SORRY I SOUNDED HARSH, BUT FOR ME ITS NOT THE BEST PHOTO YOU HAVE EVER TAKEN. YOU ARE STILL A TOP PHOTOGRAPHER SIR. JUST MY OPINION. OBVIOUSLY PEOPLE LIKE IT. DAMN I HAVE CAPS LOCK ON. SORRY
SORRY TO SEEM HARSH. YOU ARE A GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER ANYWAY
The whole voting system on this site makes little sense. 76 people gave it a 6. The average is clearly 6. How it finished 5th seems totally odd. How can anyone give it a 10? And equally how can anyone give it a 4? Its an average shot at best, it offers nothing of interest and is an obvious "oh its a man with tools" Its so unimaginative. I guess this site isnt very artistic based.
This one was among my favorites for the challenge, after reading your comments it's even more so.
Offer my namesake a framed print, he sure deserves.
Congrats.
I think this is a wonderful image. I love the circular motion of his body. The place where his legs and left arm are cropped is a little awkward. Overall perfect for this challenge. 10.
Great shot, nice to see a smith actually still smithing things ;) would have liked to see either no movement or a bit more movement on the hammer but definately one of my favorites from this challenge either way..
8 - Met the Challenge. Well captured use of tools. Good character here. Black and white works well, perhaps sepia may have had more 'effect', not sure. Criticism; a tighter crop, or just losing that background left 'something'. A different angle (though I know you would sacrifice the 'character') but incorporating/emphasizing the tools (including his hands - especially at rear) would make this a better photograph in my opinion. Original and a good capture of a true skilled trade(sman).
OK, finally a pic worth something. I've been disappointed so far in this challenge with people taking things too literally and not working on composition or "the art" of it all. This is the first 10 I've seen. Possibly worthy of top 3 in a mediocre field.
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