On the stoop

C&C requested/appreciated. Which edit do you like best, and why? Thanks!

01 - As shot, direct from camera:

#2.
The first has blown highlights on the wall that I find my eye going to more than the subject.

The B&W and Sepia toned ones are nice, too. However, I think the #2 color image is best of all of them.

Naturalist wrote in post #7621645
#2.
The first has blown highlights on the wall that I find my eye going to more than the subject.

The B&W and Sepia toned ones are nice, too. However, I think the #2 color image is best of all of them.

Thanks! I had the same immediate reaction to the wall. Those levels were the first thing I went after in PP. Then I started cropping to get rid of even more wall. Crop or no crop, what say you?

It is so rare that sepia works with an image and it does with this one, I'd go with the sepia.

i like the b& w. The original looks pretty good as well!

Naturalist wrote in post #7621645
I think the #2 color image is best of all of them.

Zazoh wrote in post #7621729
It is so rare that sepia works with an image and it does with this one, I'd go with the sepia.

AllisonFaith wrote in post #7621753
i like the b& w. The original looks pretty good as well!

Three replies, three opinions, four choices.

I can't narrow it down either. Maybe print all 3 and put them together? That's cheating.

I vote for the black and white version followed by the second one. My gut feeling is that the B&W version is more related to a time past. I can see the ol' boy spinning tales of wisdom!

On that note I'd try to make it more dramatic, maybe a slight vignette? And, lighten the face just a tad.

dano57 wrote in post #7622043
I vote for the black and white version followed by the second one. My gut feeling is that the B&W version is more related to a time past. I can see the ol' boy spinning tales of wisdom!

On that note I'd try to make it more dramatic, maybe a slight vignette? And, lighten the face just a tad.

You're so right! He looks like he's waiting to tell a story. He's wearing a hat with the shield of the 1st Cavalry Division.

I think I might need to get a little more aggressive in PP - the B&W conversion as posted already has a brush stroke +18 exposure to lighten his eyes and -23 vignette. Any more on the face and it washed out the detail, I'm sure there's a better way to improve that spot without losing it - anybody have a suggestion for settings to try?