A participant in a WWII battle reenactment for veteran's day. This gentleman was part of the French Foreign Legion unit. I stood in front of him for a few minutes while he puffed on his pipe to create some dramatic smoke for me.
I'd be thrilled if this entry could make three 6+ freestudies in a row for me, but freestudies being the harsh competitions they are, anything over a 5.5 will please me.
Anticipated critiques:
-Don't like the desaturated color.
-Cropped too close
Post challenge notes:
Wow, I'm happy! Three 6+ freestudies in a row. This run is going to be hard for me to beat!
Statistics
Place: 82 out of 366 Avg (all users): 6.1088 Avg (commenters): 7.3636 Avg (participants): 6.1373 Avg (non-participants): 6.0444 Views since voting: 1434 Views during voting: 96 Votes: 147 Comments: 19 Favorites: 3 (view)
You have a knack for sort of street portraits - undoubtedly due to your willingness to engage your subjects, work with them, and get the look you're after.
I thought this was wonderful!! I was one of your 8s. I absolutely love the smoke and the close crop. Just spectacular, all the way around! Well done, and it should have been even higher!
I know that you commented (in the forums) that you hadn't received a long comment - honestly, this was the one I was closest to giving a long comment to without doing so; I even showed it to my wife with the question 'Unconventional - yes or no?' She actually said yes, but it didn't send me over the edge.
So, by way of correcting my error here goes:
[OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy). I'll be picking one of these images for the Mu (most underrated) award:]
Positives: Despite my earlier assessment - this IS a quite unconventional portrait. I really like the texture in the face face and shirt and this coupled with great sharpness contrasts well with the smooth and blurry smoke. The lighting is fabulous and I really like the way we can see his eyes through the tinted lenses. I think the main element of the composition are great and you were absolutely right to go with the close crop.
Critical stuff: The border - it does suit the image but for me it is a little gimmicky; your image doesn't need the help the border gives in offering a nostalgic feel. I wish you had trusted in its intrinsic power to a convey a mood all on its own. I think the red tie dropping from the ear is a little distracting - I'm not sure what you could have done about that - perhaps a very selective blur? Though on second thoughts - it does ground the image and offer some situated context so on reflection I'm probably wrong to mention it.
Overall: A highly competent image which is well served by its PP. You have said it in your notes but it looked to me as if there was the tiniest bit of tone mapping going on. Overall, a very good job.
I didn't vote either but this would have been a 7 for me.
One of my favourites in this month's free study. I really like the way this is processed to look slightly desaturated. Gives a nice aged feel to the shot. Hope to see this ribbon.
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