self portrait

I was trying to emulate a Dragan type HDR look, but I think it came out looking more like the

lighting in a Vermeer or Rembrandt portrait, (though obviously inferior to any portraits of

theirs). Too dark I guess. I'd like to read others' thoughts.

Hello Brian, i like this photo but i think it was better without the window right to you. Is darkness but i think this is the beauty, maybe needs little contrast more. Sorry about my english! Hello from Greece!

I agree with Paola, but I wouldn't have cropped it as much, maybe to the edge of the window. I like the greenish tint that it gives. Another great job as always - Lex

Efharisto. Kalispera from the US. (Sorry, that's about the extent of my Greek knowledge, though I can read the alphabet from using it in physics.) I think the contrast you added is an improvement. I considered totally cropping the window, too.

 

Alexa,

Thanks. I liked the yellow/greenish cast on the hair too (though my fianc饠hated it), but in truth it isn't the light from the window causing the color cast, that was a manipulation. It would be nice to have a green or yellow film to hold on my office window though (I took this at work with my desk lamp and the afternoon sunlight from the window as primary and secondary light sources.

 

How's GIMP working for you? I've found it to be a kind of steep learning curve, but I've gotten more comfortable with it after doing some of the tutorials at gimp.org/tutorials

Ah the tutorials... that might be something to try... I've almost broken down and gotten photo shop. You can see a couple of my attempts at changing the background on pictures in my portfolio. I've gotten a bit better, but I'm still having trouble picking out parts of the picture from a background or vise versa. I think that I'm still on the bottom part of that learning curve. Oh well. Do you only use GIMP? - Lex