Old School DQ Critique

[SandeeWig]

I haven't posted a photo up for critique in a while, and I've been playing with this one all evening so thought I'd get some feedback. This is a photo taken just the other day of the local Dairy Queen. It's not a brazier (obviously) but because it is a franchise and the owner has no desire to upgrade, it's the only one we've got in town. It's closed during the winter months.

Anyhoo...given the historic look and feel of the building and sign, I attempted to get a vintage look using this tutorial by James Dolan. I modified the colors in the gradient just slightly, and of course manipulated the curves, levels, etc. Added some noise, a slight vignette as well as the border last.

So my questions are:
1. Did I do too much in the way of processing it? What do you think of the color tones? I'm not really sure the border adds much, but I wanted to frame it in some fashion.

2. Did I achieve the vintage look? Should there be more noise to give it more of a film grain look?

3. What do you think of the subject and overall composition? Any major distractions?



Exif:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
0.006 sec (1/160)
f/8.0
55 mm
ISO 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off

Thanks so much for looking! All comments and feedback greatly appreciated.

[Nathan deGargoyle]

Hi Aimee, I love the shot and I think you have done a great job with the vintage look. The border really doesn't work for me as it is so obviously a digital technique it goes against the overall feel of the image. Maybe a black border outside the image would give the effect you want?

[SandeeWig]

Thank you, Nathan. I think you're right with the straight black border. Thanks so much for you comments and suggestion.

[torqueguru]

Wonderful processing, iloved the image. As Nathan said the border puts it off a little bit. Why dont you give it a more film style, dark room developed kind a texutre or outline?
Regards,
TG.

[Austin_HXC]

Great shot, love it.
BTW, in Photoshop I think there's a filter called 'Film Grain'.

[B..]

Originally Posted by Nathan deGargoyle

Hi Aimee, I love the shot and I think you have done a great job with the vintage look. The border really doesn't work for me as it is so obviously a digital technique it goes against the overall feel of the image. Maybe a black border outside the image would give the effect you want?

Perhaps a vignette border.

And if it's trying to look old, maybe introduce some age 'defects'. It looks just too good to be true to it's 'age'. Maybe some cracks around the border ...