granddad

[tanc]

Hey, I'm new here...got a few photos i'd like people's opinion on.

At the moment all of my photos are unprocessed. I did play around with this in photoshop...balancing the light a bit, de-saturating colours, b&w etc. but can't decide...

any opinions?

[clockdoc]

Hi,
Welcome to the group.. I think you are off to a good start with a great subject. As shown on my monitor Grandad's face is a little dark on his right hand side. A reflector or flach fill would have opened up the shadow detail here. You can also play with adding some catchlights to the eyes for sparkle. Lots of great character lines! Keep shooting as I think you have lots of potential keepers here.

[Saralonde]

Hi Tanc, welcome to DPS! I agree with Clockdoc, great subject. This is a face full of character and evidence of a life lived. I would go in for a close shot and get as much focus on the eyes as possible. This would also help eliminate the distracting pattern on the chair. You could crop the image down a bit to help with that. I've seen great portraits of older people done in b&w, so that could also be an option.

[tanc]

Had a bit of a play with the advice given!!

I didn't do the whole catchlights thing, but I tried to highlight the eyes a bit to bring out what's naturally there...

Thanks for the advice!

I've got loads more photos I want advice on!!

[Saralonde]

I like this better. No distracting background and his eyes stand out so much better.

[clockdoc]

I think you did a nice job of bringing out more detail in the shadow side of your granddad's face. When you work on the catchlights, clone out any distracting bit of reflection from the eyes. Then experiment with placing one small catchlight in each eye. Considering the direction of the light source you may want to put them at the 2 o'clock position for starters and see how it looks.