candids Tubista

A really beautiful result with very nice lighting and details, Vlad!

Wonderful scene, angle and framing! I am sure it would be just as great without the solarisation type-sharpening-thing that you seem to love for most of your pictures lately? Maybe you could let us know a little of your thoughts behind this particular style.

well done Vlad...very graphic...regards....David

My friends, thank you for visiting!

Mosca, I don't know what is solarization sharpening. I do all my work mostly in nik silver fx (enhancements of contrast, toning, structure, burning some edges, adding grain, etc.) and very rare use sharpeners.

Interesting tight composition with a lot of good details.

I agree with Mosca's view of this. I've seen this effect from this software in quite a few cases. I don't use that software myself, so I'm not sure if it is supposed to result in this illustrated/graphic look or that's just what's happening because of the way it is sometimes used. But it does look rather unnatural. The shadows are very lightened and the foreground/background is very flattened. One can't really feel depth and it no longer feels much like a photograph. In this particular case, it feels a bit cartoonish which, for some uses of this particular image, would not be a bad choice, if that's what's desired. But that's definitely where it's leaning.

Fred, thanks for your input.

Re: Silver FX software - it's not the result of how software works, it's the result of choices made. Silver FX is very powerful tool (toy?) and provides you with almost unlimited opportunities for fine tuning.

Re: image feel. Here I felt like it should be a bit on a cartoonish, comics side probably because of his expression and that word popping from his grotesque instrument.

Love this one! As others mentioned, the angle and framing. But also the background is what adds a sense of "being there" for me.  I personally like this treatment. And yes, Silver Efex and all of the Nik collection is a very powerful tool when you go beyond the presets. The ability to fine tune everything and create a unique style provides endless possibilities.

Great work!

Regards, Line