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Gritty Portrait Experiment (aka "The Coalminer" look)
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I set myself a little exercise today to try to take a dark and gritty portrait... I was home alone so I used myself as the subject (I knew the result wouldn't be flattering - I didn't want to get slapped by posting ugly shots of other people here) Big Grin

I originally did this image as b/w only (and have posted the b/w version in the new "B/W Assignment #15" thread), but I also did this colour version and can't decide which I like.

[Image: 97_IMG_0861_Col_440.jpg]

Pointless as it may seem at first, the colour version actually incorporates the b/w version to supply its luminance values, it just allows the colour values from the original to "seep through" the b/w version. I just changed the Mode of the Channel Mixer layer (which performs the monochrome conversion) from Normal to Luminosity and then added a Hue/Saturation layer to fine-tune things (actually de-saturate some of the skin-tones).
As the monochrome conversion was based on the hues used in the original shot and not just the luminosity, this technique can give quite a distinctive look to an image.

Just a word of warning, when I did the Channel Mixing for this image, I pumped up the blue channel to around 200% and then put the Red and Green channels into negative values. While this does wonderful things for eyes (especially blue and probably green eyes), it can really make skin look disgusting! Every pore becomes a blackhead, every pimple becomes a mole, every freckle becomes a melonoma! :o You may need to take measures to remove some of the blemishes. In this photo I tried to remove my freckles (which tend to come out the worst), but left my pores to keep the leathery textured look in the skin. Mind you, I've got quite pale and pinky skin - I wonder how different these Channel Mixer settings would look with different skin tones and colours.

With this technique, what you lose in beauty you gain in character! Smile

To put the PS processing into perspective, here is the same photo as it came out of the camera (ooooo.. don't I look like I mean business! Sometimes I scare myself! Tongue hahaha). Also a monochrome version which I think I prefer over the colour version, but not sure.

[Image: IMG_0861_252_Orig.jpg] [Image: IMG_0861_252_Mono.jpg]

Edit: I slightly desaturated the colours in the main pic and added the small monochrome version to the bottom.

Adrian Broughton
My Website: www.BroughtonPhoto.com.au
My Blog: blog.BroughtonPhoto.com.au
You can also visit me on Facebook!
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Einstein.
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Gritty Portrait Experiment (aka "The Coalminer" look) - by Kombisaurus - Dec 31, 2005, 05:29

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