Wally Again

[Nina]

This time I thought I'd give him a more "lived in" look.
Any thoughts on this?

gritty2_6596.jpg (705.18 KiB) Viewed 3366 times

[davidc]

Saw this on 365project first but will replicate the comments here. I quite like the contrasty, oversharpened look - reminds me of the Dragan effect - although the pixellated background is a bit distracting when viewed on the larger size allowed by the forum.

An example of the Dragan Effect -

[walterconquy]

HI NINA ITS THE LOOK ,WITH ALL THE GRAVELLY TEXTURE, THAT YOU WOULD GIVE A SEXY YOUNG ACTOR IN SCI FI FILM, DOES IT WORK ? WHO KNOWS. I DON'T HAVE BLUE EYES, I HAVE SEXY BROWN EYES. WHAT DO OTHERS SAY, I SHALL HAVE A BROWSE. WALLY

[Mike Farley]

I find myself in agreement with Dave about the oversharpened, contrasty look. As I have previously concurred with him on his views about your other shot of Wally, that alone is cause for concern.

It's an effect which might have some potential for the right subject, but is not especially flattering the way it is done here. In particular, the pixellation is very off putting. Also, the reflections which are partially obscuring both of Wally's eyes look rather odd, his left eye especially.

It is an unusual viewpoint for a portrait, shot from above and the subject looking away from the camera, the crop just skimming the top of his head. This suggests to me that you might have chosen to present it this way to try and salvage something from an awkward pose which did not work as a straight image. Extremes of manipulation have their place provided that such processing adds something, but it is not a panacea.

An interesting experiment and definitely one worth trying, but for me at least, it has not suceeded on this occasion.