Genius, Not Madness

[draymorton]

From a short session yesterday with an incredible artist. I have a few shots I wanted to run by everyone for various reasons. This one I a) had no idea how I should crop (it was originally a full three-quarter shot) and b) couldn't quite decide whether or not to keep in color or convert to b&w. Beyond that... the usual questions: what works? what doesn't?

Thanx.

[jetrim]

Very nice in color, although B & W would be equally dramatic I think. The one thing that bothers me is that it seems like the DOF is too tight. The nose and center of forehead look to be outside the focal plane.

[Frog]

The eyes definitly work.....not sure about the background.
How do you get this effect?

[dwaugh]

I think it's great, except for the slight problem of the nose being out of focus so much.

[Ron Kruger]

I believe you were trying to make the eyes the focal point of the pix, and with focus, DOF and cutting off the top of his head, you did exactly that. It would be good as a B/W, but you would lose those green eyes and red background. I'd leave it color. With the makeup, he looks more like a coal miner than an artist. Normally such tight portraits are best in vertical format, but this works. I do think, however, for symetry sake, he should be centered.
In other words, I like it.

[draymorton]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

jetrim and dwaugh - yeah, I was wondering if the blurring was good, bad, or neutral. The original image (prior to sharpening and posting here) had more blurry patches around the face, which I thought might be interesting. But now that there's a more uniform sharpness across the bottom half of the face and the nose and the forehead are the only blurry areas, I definitely agree that it looks a little weird. I might try reblurring the other parts of the face that were originally more out-of-focus and see if that helps.

Frog - thanks. Is the background too dark, too light? Is it the color, the pattern?

Not sure which effect you mean, so covering all the bases:

F/1.6
Speedlights - camera right and behind subject with red gel.
Levels
Hue/Saturation
Unsharp Mask for added contrast
Smart Sharpen

Ron - thanks. That's exactly what I was trying to do. As I said earlier, the original had more OOF areas around the right jawline and left cheek, which I thought helped the cause. I tried it in b/w and you're right: it's better in color. I'll try centering the subject and see what that does.

Thanks again.

[gracie_r]

Creepy! I love it. I agree with the others on the nose though.

[draymorton]

Thanks, gracie. I agree with the others, too.

[Grandpaw]

I like the others better. It looks to me like you tried to Photoshop something on his nose and forehead and not that it is out of focus, Jeff

[draymorton]

Jeff - Thanks for the comment. I definitely see what you mean, though, strangely, none of that was done in Photoshop.

Btw - here's an alternate take in (almost) b/w. Since it was taken at the same f-stop, the nose remains a problem. Wish I knew how to fix it!

[Loupey]

OMG what a terrific image! Although I can't see the original image, this b&w version is so intense.

I don't know how you did it but it looks great to me. The tension created by the eyes and the composition. The nose has so much character that I don't know if I want to see it any sharper actually.

Excellent work. Made me look at it for a long time... wondering what he was thinking.

[Ron Kruger]

The broken nose out of focus doesn't bother me. You could fix the DOF by getting more light, but that would cancel some of the craggy features, or try a slower shutter speed, which would improve the f-stop and thereby the DOF. But I like it as is. The eyse are the focus, and the rest of it being out puts all concentration there.
I have to ask: is that makeup, is this guy that grungy?

[draymorton]

Thanks for the kind words, Loupey! I'm pretty sure he was thinking, "what's this guy still doing here? He said this was gonna take five minutes."

Thanks, Ron. I will most certainly try to get different f-stops next time - if he does let me shoot him again! I was actually looking for a very shallow DOF here. Not that it worked, but it was originally what I was looking for.

Nope, not makeup and not that grungy. It was basically just lighting, sharpening, and levels adjustments.

[freygr]

I feel the B&W lost some of the punch of the color version. Maybe keep the models color and make the background B&W.

[Shebang]

I was reading the first posters' opinions, thinking to myself that I actually like the guy's nose and ears out of focus -- I was glad to keep reading and see I had a little company!

Because you did such a great job on the guy's eyes, and because his nose is mis-shapen, I think the shallow DOF works well here. Great shot of an intriguing character.

[draymorton]

Thanks, Paula. Very glad you like it. I'm still wondering when it's okay to blur certain parts of the face and when it's considered improper form. Or if it's always considered improper form (like violating the rule of thirds, centering the subject, etc.). I still have no idea if there are hard-and-fast rules or if it's all just a matter of aesthetic preference.

freygr - model in color, background in b/w? Hmm... interesting idea. Maybe I'll try that. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Shebang]

I'm still wondering, too ... but I'm finding this a great forum to learn.