Critique Eccentricity, processing and a sword.

juggler

juggler

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Simon
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I have some very eccentric friends.

I'm struggling to settle on a processing style for this set. How does this work? Too gritty - i.e. too much local contrast or could it take a bit more? A bit dark? Over or under-saturated? All constructive opinions very gratefully received :)

..and I've just realised there's a slight halo around some edges so please ignore that for now; I'll fix it later.

 
Not too gritty at all Simon. Great work, great expression, lighting, processing, character. Love it! Cool...
 
Fab lighting! Interesting and crazy image! Regards to processing, and this is just my personal opinion... Look at HIS LEFT hand (on his chest)... that's got some great clarity and contrast to it, superb definition. I'd be trying to get the whole of him like that. I don't know if you did anything to his face, but I think if you could get it a bit more chiseled and defined, it might work better processing wise? This of course is just my opinion... :)
 
sunnyside_up said:
Fab lighting! Interesting and crazy image! Regards to processing, and this is just my personal opinion... Look at HIS LEFT hand (on his chest)... that's got some great clarity and contrast to it, superb definition. I'd be trying to get the whole of him like that. I don't know if you did anything to his face, but I think if you could get it a bit more chiseled and defined, it might work better processing wise? This of course is just my opinion... :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Beth, your opinion is always welcome.. I actually toned his face down a bit 'cos I thought it might be too much but I may just delete that mask and see how we go :)
 
juggler said:
Thanks Beth, your opinion is always welcome.. I actually toned his face down a bit 'cos I thought it might be too much but I may just delete that mask and see how we go :)
Click to expand...
Cool, post it up when you've done it eh! :)
 
An unusual and very interesting shot Simon, but very nice.(y)

George.
 
Love it. Really like the lighting here. Yes the nose bridge area looked ever so slightly lacking in much shadow/contrast.
Thats picky though, this post work works for me.

Gaz
 
Unusual shot, pose, prop....don't see shots like this everyday, so thanks for sharing.

Can I ask what he does does with the sword, I assume he is a performer?

Has the saturation been reduced at all? He looks a little pale, to me, maybe he is. Perhaps that was the PP you were aiming for?
 
I prefer the slightly cleaner processing in the first post - maybe halfway between the two just to be awkward.

First thing that stood out though was that the sword doesn't stand out. As you move down towards the tip of the sword, the lighting falls off. A bit of edge light to emphasise that he swallows a sharp metal blade for fun would give it a lift I think. (I'm assuming he's a sword swallower based on the pose).
 
Morbid said:
Unusual shot, pose, prop....don't see shots like this everyday, so thanks for sharing.

Can I ask what he does does with the sword, I assume he is a performer?

Has the saturation been reduced at all? He looks a little pale, to me, maybe he is. Perhaps that was the PP you were aiming for?
Click to expand...

He's a sword swallowing contortionist - though not both at the same time: http://www.burlesqueevent.com/portfolio-item/bendy-bendini/
I did give the image a slight bleach bypass type effect as well as manipulating the local contrast a fair bit - so the faded look is what I was aiming for. Whether that's the right thing to aim for is a question for another day, but it's what we've both settled on :)

Jayst84 said:
I prefer the slightly cleaner processing in the first post - maybe halfway between the two just to be awkward.

First thing that stood out though was that the sword doesn't stand out. As you move down towards the tip of the sword, the lighting falls off. A bit of edge light to emphasise that he swallows a sharp metal blade for fun would give it a lift I think. (I'm assuming he's a sword swallower based on the pose).
Click to expand...

You're quite right about light picking out the sword. This was one of the first images from the shoot; I spent a fair while later on pfaffing around with speedlites and snoots to highlight the sword, but we never quite managed to recapture this facial expression. I s'pose I could try to composite in a sword from one of the images where it has caught the light properly; my compositing skills could certainly do with the practice!

An aside.. while we have a fair number of him swallowing the sword they're all much less interesting than those where he's just playing with it.
 
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