Male Torso

[dougsturgess]

Taken with 20d & 70-200 2.8L IS on a rainy day. Converted to B&W using "Calculations" in CS2. Comments & criticism wanted.

http://www.pbase.com/dougsturgess/image/64015956 (Thanks for the advice below. The link has been updated to show tone corrections suggested, however it still appears darker on the wesite than it does in CS2)

[Unreal_Nature]

I think your highlights could have been brought up a little bit more. The skin tones are a little too flat throughout. And the pose seems indecisive to me. He looks like he's in between doing one thing and headed to do another, not as if **this** moment is the one. He is neither tense (flexing) nor relaxed. He's semi-relaxed...

He looks cold, to me. Goose-bumpy. Is that a hat brim tilting in from the top?

All this being said (sorry to be so negative), the subject matter is there, the image technique is good, and it's very close to being a really good photo. In my opinion.

-Julie

[Robert_Lay]

I agree 100% about the tonal range - it is rendered much too dark. The bright distraction in the upper right corner draws away the eye. Bringing the tonal range up a full stop would give the image more life, but that bright spot has to also be dealt with effectively. In fact, there is a second bright spot directly behind him between his torso and his right arm that is equally troublesome.

Nothing that can't be repaired, but it will require some work in Photoshop beyond just a simple adjustment of brightness.

Disregarding the hot spots, I used Image -> Adjustments -> Shadows/Highlights and improved it somewhat and then used Image -> Adjustments -> Brightness and Contrast to raise both brightness and contrast some more. So, the tonal range can be improved upon quite easily, but toning down those hot spots will require some effort.

[tlc]

was that his hat? a little confused about that, it detracts.

[dougsturgess]

Interesting comments. I've updated the photo using the suggestions above. I happen to like the fact that the subject is looking down with face out of view and obviously doing something with his hands (he was actually tightening his waist string). I like the fact he looks pre-occupied while the second show is his amazing chest. I never noticed the white areas as someone did below and don't feel they carry the eyes away from the chest.

[tlc]

i understand what you are going for, however, you have cut off part of the hat and you can't tell, at least i cannot, immediately that it is a hat, it looks funny and spoils the shot for me. if you had all of his head, that might be different.

[Robert_Lay]

Taken with 20d & 70-200 2.8L IS on a rainy day. Converted to B&W using "Calculations" in CS2. Comments & criticism wanted.

....., however it still appears darker on the wesite than it does in CS2)

You may want to consider calibrating your monitor - that should make them look the same in your browser as they do in CS2 unless the hosting web site is making adjustments to the image.