Dodge & Burn

[davidb]

I have two versions of the same image here. I will be entering one into the next round of the PDI competition but I'm not sure which one I prefer.

The image was taken on the recent trip to Brighton to experiment with long exposures.

The first is a straight shot whilst the second I've burned the photographer to make him stand out a bit more. What do you think?

[Mike Farley]

I don't know about dodge and burn, for me the shot is in need of more contrast. Here is a very rough and ready version, processed in Silver Efex Pro 2, based on your "as shot" image.

[davidb]

Thanks Mike. I've used one of the presets of Silver Efex. It doesn't come back to your adjustments but then I'm a novice with these filters!

I wanted to get the photographer to stand out a bit more than the basic unprocessed image and I felt the burn was just a step too far. The SFX does the job as well as give the rest of the scene more detail.

[Mike Farley]

I've used one of the presets of Silver Efex. It doesn't come back to your adjustments but then I'm a novice with these filters!

I used one of my own presets which I have created and saved. It is worthwhile doing that once you get an effect which you like. Once you have built up a few different ones, very often you will have something which is a good starting point.

I wanted to get the photographer to stand out a bit more than the basic unprocessed image and I felt the burn was just a step too far. The SFX does the job as well as give the rest of the scene more detail.

OK. Not knowing what you wanted, I did use a control point to boost the photographer. I quite like that he is faded, gives a sense of mystery. I cannot vouch that the judge will agree.

[davidb]

Round 3 of the PDI isn't open yet but when it is it will be loaded as "The Phantom Photographer".

[Mike Farley]

Round 3 of the PDI isn't open yet but when it is it will be loaded as "The Phantom Photographer".

I will open it when I close the second round of the print competition. The last date for print competition entries is midnight on 12 December, so it will be a few hours after that.

In the meantime, you might find this monochrome workflow based on SEP2 helpful. It forms the basis of some of my conversions. Follow the link below:

http://giannigalassi.typepad.com/blog/2 ... kflow.html