I had a lot of fun shooting this one. I wear glasses so the other challenge wasn't interesting enough for me and this sounded like fun - plus I knew I'd lose out to lots of killer b&w octogenarian shots ;) This one was a LOT harder, especially because I have ZERO space to set anything up and context seems to be so important to some of these setup/studio type shots. I learned a lot - especially how important context is. Also, this is a self portrait in the dark so framing was a royal pain in the a$$ - especially trying to get props in shot. In the end the only prop I kept the jazz cigarette (other shots with bottle of booze).
So, I had to go close crop. I had a really hard time choosing between this and a few others - but whichever one I chose would likely have been the wrong one...let's see how this one does. The other I think is better 'eye candy' but I think this will speak to more people. Lit from one diffused on camera speedlight (but you probably knew that from the lights in my eyes).
PP: most work done in the RAW conversion - white balance, small crop, contrast, blacks, clarity. Moved to PS, usm, noise ninja, resize, jpg.
Post challenge: Disappointing score and placing to be honest - I expected this to do better in that particular field of entries but I underestimated the cute factor. Still, I'm proud of this photo and I guess that is all that matters although it would have been nice for more people to have connected with it. I tried to keep the DoF towards my face to isolate the emotion but it was interpreted by many very differently. Sometimes the photo isn't about being perfect technically...at least to me it isn't. 26 people voted this image 3 or less, 78 voting it 4 or less. I didn't expect this do to that well but I didn't expect so many people to hate it either.
Here's a few of the outtakes. One is edited, the rest are as is.
Onwards and upwards...
p.s. the neighbours thought I was nuts...the outdoor shots were taken at about 6pm when people were coming home from work. I didn't use any of the outdoor ones because I couldn't handle the yellow cast of the streetlights in photoshop properly.
Statistics
Place: 23 out of 52 Avg (all users): 5.6736 Avg (commenters): 6.9231 Avg (participants): 5.4444 Avg (non-participants): 5.6908 Views since voting: 1591 Views during voting: 621 Votes: 386 Comments: 34 Favorites: 3 (view)
Whites of the eyes are quite dull, but under basic editing theres not a lot that can be done there. Not totally convinced the focus is fully on the eyes. The brightness of the bowtie is not matched but the colouring of the makeup and hair and so takes the focus away from the face
Interesting choice of smoking material for the clown!?! I wish the DOF would have preserved that great bow. Neat expression on his face. Interesting crop choice - very intimate.
Something is just a bit off for me... but I'm having a hard time placing it. I think it has to do with the green of the tie in the foreground combined with the shallow DOF
i find the narrow depth of field makes this image interesting, and i love the rough look of the face, maybe use of softer light instead of a harsh flah would be better
Trying to interpret what he's got in his mouth, either a hand-rolled smokable thing or a burnt piece of wood. Anyway, colorful image; the eyes being a bit shadowed lends an enigmatic appearance to his expression.
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