Miks (1717) 2007-09-21 17:41:54

I did nothing but cropping. There are good and bad news. The good news, to my eyes, is that the compo is simpler and the pole is no longer in the center. The bad news is that some of the cool features had to go. Fx. the cool reflections.

I'm a 'kill your darlings' kinda guy. So, I usually take the overall compo over nifty details.
But in this case, I like both versions about the same.

Cheers,
Mikkel

Miks (1717) 2007-09-20 17:54:45

Hey Nivaldo,

Just wanted to see how the portrait would look with a more traditional crop. I like this version as well. Hope you do too.

Best,
Mikkel

Miks (1717) 2007-02-12 22:40:52

Just tried to provide a little more punchy contrast.

Looking at it in comparison to yours, I realize that I have surely overdone it. Perhaps, the most effective version will be somewhere in between yours and mine?

Best,
Mikkel

Miks (1717) 2007-02-12 21:17:48

Tried a tighter crop to focus on the guy a little more. I still he is still so small that the effect remains.

The cropping looses some size but you get the idea. I don't necessarily think it is better thn the original. Just different!

Best,
Mikkel

Miks (1717) 2007-02-01 09:17:13

I just cropped of the sand in order to emphasize the feeling of the little flag being isolated in the grand nature. Also cropped a bit from the right so that there the flag is situated in the corner proper.

Cheers,
Mikkel

Miks (1717) 2007-01-23 21:27:07

Hi bud,

Just selected his face and used levels and curves. Then used level and curves on the whole image. Finally sharpened it.

A quick job and I probably overdid it a bit. But you get the idea.

Best,
Mikkel

Miks (1717) 2006-05-09 03:23:27

This is a quick job and surely too rough. Someone better at PS than I could surely do better. But I just wanted to see what it looked like with a bit more contrast and somewhat sharper. So, I just played around in levels and curves and sharpened it. And this is what it looked like.

While I was at it, I tried an alternative crop. I don't think it is an improvement but I like it as well. Hope you do too.

Best,
Mikkel

Miks (1717) 2006-02-14 01:18:41

Hi Ken,

It goes without saying that an odd angle such as a tilt is not a mistake but can be a real improvement/element of the compo. But to my eye this very minor tilt is a more of a distraction than an additional element. Typically 'breaking the rules' works best when it is quite explicit.

My main rationale for 'correcting' it is however different: rotating the canvas clockwise provides a much more pronounced diagonal which I think goes well with the strong perspective. To emphasize it further, I cropped it as to let the image 'begin' in the upper left corner.

I'm sorry about the gull. It is a cool addition no question. But I think the main motive is so strong that the compositional choices should favor it.

Alfred Hitchcock used to say 'kill your darlings' about nice details which compromise the main idea. I like that advice a lot in photography.

Just my two cents, of course, and a matter of strictly personal taste! And as mentioned, the original is a very well seen and executed picture!

Best,
Mikkel

PS: I also added a bit of contrast via 'curves' and sharpened it up. But I'm not so sure that this is a good choice. The pic gained some graphically but lost some of the detail and fog. Trade-offs, trade-offs...

Miks (1717) 2006-02-08 20:04:40

Hi Arindam,

I liked about your pic that there was some background. But I thought the main motive was strong enough to become a portrait in its own right. So, I cropped my way to a half wall, half figure composition.

I wanted to provide a bit more punch, but was afraid this would leave her face in total darkness. So, I selected the face and arm and made it lighter by levels and curves. The I used the 'inverse select' function and provided stronger contrast to the rest of the image (also by levels and curves).

I think that it works quite well as a 'clean' portrait as well. Hope you like it.

Best regards,
Mikkel

Miks (1717) 2006-02-04 03:32:19

I tried a closer crop mainly because I found the 'half' eye a little distracting.

Desaturated and played in levels and curves to get to an interestign grey-scale. Emphasized some shadows via the burn tool. When converted to BW, the digital noise provided a little too much grain for my taste. So, I despecled it (under 'noise' in 'filters'.

I like both the original and the BW. Hope you do as well.

Best,
Mikkel