Man in Despair of Life

I used to see this man everyday in my travels, I'd stop and say

hello, we pass the pleasantries of the day, on occasion I'd offer him

some cash (which he never took) then we would both go on our sperate

way.

 

On this day, he seemed to be in a world of his own, not recognizing

anyone or anything except the unseen person he was conversing with.

 

I haven't seen him in seven weeks.

 

~Paul~

Emotional image, even without reading your text. The only thing I could offer is a technical note. That would be to darken the shadows a bit.

 

Great image.

Dont mean to be rude but I honestly wasnt sure whether to laugh or feel bad until I read the little attached story. Maybe darkening the shadows as suggested would help??

Keep the shadows and lower the highlights. That is, only if your intention is to treat the subject with dignity.

" Keep the shadows and lower the highlights. That is, only if your intention is to treat the subject with dignity."

 

I would love an explanation of that comment. Thanks!

Hi Dave. The lighting is good here and there is a lot of tonal values in the face to work with. Paul`s made a good capture of a strong expression that stands up very well on its own. Depending on the treatment the anguish we see becomes open to interpretation. I think despair is the operative word and it can be communicated effectively here in low contrast. On the other hand we already have blown highlights in this treatment. If we then block up shadows we`ll end up with solid black breaking directly on white on the subjects face. Hardening the contrast will intensify the expression. IMHO you`ll end up communicating something more akin to the subjects final death throws rather than his despair. I will agree with you that shadows on the jacket and in background could stand some darkening. But I think the face should be treated with less contrast.

Dave, an excellent explanation. Agree totally. Thanks so much!

Dave & Dave,

 

Thanks for the critique guys.

 

Here's the adjusted image. I masked the face and lowered the contrast in levels then inverted and tweaked the contrast/brightness to increase the shadows on the jacket and background.

 

Let me know what you think.

 

~Paul~

Really like your handing of the highlights on the skin areas. Really seamless. Nice job. I personally would go really dark on the shirt but that is just me. I love really contrasty (almost high key) type images.

 

Nice job. Size the image under 500 pixels and attach it to your post, I think it should actually show up in the thread then as an image and not a link.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Here's the resized image.

 

Paul

Paul

 

I like this. Didn't mention it before but the background in this image really works for me, even with the window break. A lot of interesting stuff in the bokeh. It emphasizes the contrast between the institutionalization tolerated by those who conform to society and the lack of a safety net facing those who don't.

 

I don't know how you cropped this but if you can put anything back at the top of this image that is what I would do, the more the better. Place all your strong highlights up there and as Dave said dark shadows in the jacket. This creates a vertical gradation from light to darkness. Keep the rest of the crop tight just the way you have it now. But it's a very good image as it is. BTW I just bought some PanF Plus this week. Never used the stuff before. Hope I get results as good as this.

Dave Collopy Pan F+ is one of my favorites. Most of the time I cook it in Rodinal (1+50 or 1+100) or DD-X (1+4). It's a great fine grain film with excellent contrast and tonal range. For a full list of developers and times see the Massive Development chart at http://www.digitaltruth.com/.

 

Thanks for your comments on "Man in Despair" I'll play around with the crop a little and let you know what I come up with.

 

~Paul~