People Critique ⇒ 'Tugboat Captain'

[davechinn]

An image captured on the streets of New Orleans. I may have gone overboard, but I have a tendency of doing that, so nothing new. I applied a grunge/scratch layer and thought about not covering the face, but I liked the scratched layer I decided to keep it. However, while finishing up I thought had an image of a tugboat. So here is my black & white street portrait and also a composite with the same character and a tugboat. The tugboat was taken in 2007 while we were in Wisconsin. Comments and suggestions will be appreciated.
Dave

[Psjunkie]

Like them both Mr. Chinn but the composite is outstanding...a bit of dark haloing on the tug towers but who's looking

[pop511]

"I may have gone overboard, but I have a tendency of doing that, so nothing new"
It's your style, so don't apologise.
We all grow and learn from differing works.
It is one of the reasons I enjoy it so much here.
Prefer the 2nd pic. Tells the story. Colour blending? How can you fault that
Kind regards;

[minniev]

An image captured on the streets of New Orleans. I may have gone overboard, but I have a tendency of doing that, so nothing new. I applied a grunge/scratch layer and thought about not covering the face, but I liked the scratched layer I decided to keep it. However, while finishing up I thought had an image of a tugboat. So here is my black & white street portrait and also a composite with the same character and a tugboat. The tugboat was taken in 2007 while we were in Wisconsin. Comments and suggestions will be appreciated.
Dave

Oh my. He would not recognize himself would he? Like them both so much, but the one with the tugboat is pure genius. It is hard for me to critique it objectively because I am so taken with the journey between your captured subject, whom I know and saw, and what you managed to create, which seems unbelievable. Most composites require fiddling with edge blending and halos, and then fiddling some more, so it might benefit from another peep around the edges. But this is amazing. A true work of art. Beautiful processing choices all the way around.

[davechinn]

Like them both Mr. Chinn but the composite is outstanding...a bit of dark haloing on the tug towers but who's looking

Thanks Frank, glad you like them both. I'm pretty fond of the composite as well. The dark haloing on the tug towers was something I was aware of and thought I had made a correction, but apparently I didn't. I can't explain that one.
Dave

[Psjunkie]

No need to on my account, when things are posted in critique I feel obligated to point out things I might notice

[davechinn]

"I may have gone overboard, but I have a tendency of doing that, so nothing new"
It's your style, so don't apologise.
We all grow and learn from differing works.
It is one of the reasons I enjoy it so much here.
Prefer the 2nd pic. Tells the story. Colour blending? How can you fault that
Kind regards;

Ed you are absolutely correct !!! I appreciate your thoughts and commenting on the growth issue.

Yes I suppose it could be a form of color blending. I used a couple of programs, such as Topaz adjust5 and Color Efex Pro4 with some dodging and burning. I also used Topaz Lens Effects which is where I suspect the dark haloing on the tugboats mast came from. I need to watch that a little closer.
Dave

[minniev]

Like them both Mr. Chinn but the composite is outstanding...a bit of dark haloing on the tug towers but who's looking

Thanks Frank, glad you like them both. I'm pretty fond of the composite as well. The dark haloing on the tug towers was something I was aware of and thought I had made a correction, but apparently I didn't. I can't explain that one.
Dave

If you have a simple cure for repairing dark halos, please share it with me! I am good on curing the light halos but the dark ones make me crazy trying to fix them!

[davechinn]

An image captured on the streets of New Orleans. I may have gone overboard, but I have a tendency of doing that, so nothing new. I applied a grunge/scratch layer and thought about not covering the face, but I liked the scratched layer I decided to keep it. However, while finishing up I thought had an image of a tugboat. So here is my black & white street portrait and also a composite with the same character and a tugboat. The tugboat was taken in 2007 while we were in Wisconsin. Comments and suggestions will be appreciated.
Dave

Oh my. He would not recognize himself would he? Like them both so much, but the one with the tugboat is pure genius. It is hard for me to critique it objectively because I am so taken with the journey between your captured subject, whom I know and saw, and what you managed to create, which seems unbelievable. Most composites require fiddling with edge blending and halos, and then fiddling some more, so it might benefit from another peep around the edges. But this is amazing. A true work of art. Beautiful processing choices all the way around.

Minnie when I saw him sitting on the curb with others, I knew I wanted to get a couple of shots. I really wanted to get one of him alone, but I would have had a completely different outcome/expression, so when I saw him smile I knew that was it. My previous anticipation was suddenly gone. I had no idea at the time what or how he was to be used until I was working on the black and white version. Strange how things seem to work out sometimes.

Glad that you like the composite and I appreciate the high praise. Like I mentioned to Ed, I do believe the dark haloing came from my using Topaz Lens Effects and not paying much attention to that area, but I will watch more closely next time to confirm my suspicions.
Dave

[PietFrancke]

super scruffy in a tugboat kind of way. Perfect fit for his cap. The scratches on the first adds to the rough feeling. The second image with the tug is awesome and I prefer it for the story it tells, but don't hold back on that one, it is too clean, too refined. It needs a greater feeling of dinge and danger.