trying out a new processing style

i love how it looks for bridges, not sure how it works for portraits :\

I'm not a fan of the muddy blacks.

Looks like a fog applied over a decent image, sorry.

Well made - but I have to agree with the others: Not appealing to me.

Take some time and watch television, especially the commercials...that is the style that you should emulate.

thanks for the input. i was just trying out something different. i had doubts myself and the comments so far appear to confirm that.

I am going to have to disagree with others. I like the matte look on some (not all) pictures. The 2nd one I like best.

i think you squashed the blacks too much. I took the image into Photoshop and the darkest parts are at the 3/4 tones (75% black) which is too far. If you only took them down to 85-90 percent the same effect can be achieved but you still have an image that retains more contrast.

generally there are two things to consider when going for this look, 1) getting rid of some shadow detail, which can be done even with 100% black still in the image, 2) moving the black point down a little, but if you go to far it just looks grey.

also, i'm not a fan of the top and bottom "fade" on the second image, it would probably be stronger without it.

Agree on the top and bottom fade!

The top and bottom fade is actually lens flare. the sun was right over the bush behind her. the shade form the bush actually created an hazy area in the flare pattern which is more apparent in color.

the intended to squash the crush the blacks that much. i lifted the black end of gamma curve and then modified the curve to pull the blacks down. the style is intended to match an editing preset in google photos which yields interesting results in some of my bridge pictures but i wasn't sure how it would work for portraits. maybe if i used an image that had stronger shadow lines and not on an image intended to be "pretty".

I prefer the color version! Nice.

mike_311 wrote in post #17921811
The top and bottom fade is actually lens flare. the sun was right over the bush behind her. the shade form the bush actually created an hazy area in the flare pattern which is more apparent in color.

the intended to squash the crush the blacks that much. i lifted the black end of gamma curve and then modified the curve to pull the blacks down. the style is intended to match an editing preset in google photos which yields interesting results in some of my bridge pictures but i wasn't sure how it would work for portraits. maybe if i used an image that had stronger shadow lines and not on an image intended to be "pretty".

Hosted photo: posted by mike_311 in
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forum: Critique Corner

I like the color better

Nice. Its a kool contemporary style. Watch your conversion to black and white over skin, it can make it blotchy in some cases.

Was the haze in the corners in camera?

The color is way better. The b&w was loking too instagram filter for me.

Mike, do the testing with another image. This now ain't working for couple reasons:
1. it was not made with B/W in mind;
2. not good;
...
8. no profit :]

Cheers!