What would you do with this?

[Kimmett]

Hi guys, I'm a bit stuck as how to manipulate this photo.

It was taken in Washington, with a Fuji S3000, and is fairly heavily cropped from the original, as I was quite far away, and there was stuff in the way of his legs and stuff. It is a photo which I really like, and I feel is one which really captures a moment. I feel that I can't really give it the 'pop', and the focus that it deserves, whilst trying to keep what little image quality there is.

http://www.chriskimmett.co.uk/dudesmall.jpg

Original: http://www.chriskimmett.co.uk/dude.jpg

The best I could do was a blue duotone, which looks good, but I figured you guys could come up with something better :).

Cheers

Kimmett

[DJW]

Only time for 30 sec change. Levels pulled in from each side, plus slight sharpen.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v178/djw_666/TPF/dudesmall.jpg

[mrgubby]

How is this ?

Adjusted shadows/midtone contrast , saturation & a bit of USM

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/brian.pitblado/example/dude1.jpg

[matty]

thats a very good candid, well done i think

[Kimmett]

Cheers Matty :).

Thanks for the manipulations as well guys. I tried similar stuff, but wasn't too happy when the dude went the colour of Kilroy! Methinks I may do the same, but just on the background, to make him stand out a bit.

Anyone else got any cunning plans?

Kimmett

[CT]

You just need to watch those skin tones stay natural. All I did was use a PSP filter called 'clarify'. It's a bit savage for some images but it works well on this one. The filter is basically a combination of contrast and sharpness.

http://www.thephotographyforums.com/albums/Members/dudesmall2.jpg

[mrgubby]

Cheers Matty :).

Thanks for the manipulations as well guys. I tried similar stuff, but wasn't too happy when the dude went the colour of Kilroy! Methinks I may do the same, but just on the background, to make him stand out a bit.

Anyone else got any cunning plans?

Kimmett

Thought he was meant to be the colour of Kilroy , thats why I left the arms like that :embarasse

[Kimmett]

I've given it a another shot:

http://www.chriskimmett.co.uk/pics/dude3.jpg

The background on the right has been blurred a little, while it has been blurred quite a lot on the left. The dude himself has been denoised, and sharpened a bit. Levels and curves have been played with for him and the background, but I don't remember exactly what I did now! Hopefully he stands out a little more from the frame in this version.