[jacco]

I think this was one of saturdays best pictures... I would apreciate your honest comments.

[StudioJ]

I love it! I like the combination of old and new, awesome imagery.

[Toad]

I really like this. In a perfect world, I would like to see just a bit more on the left so that the car doesn't feel so clipped - but that is of little consequence - great capture.

[shuttertalk]

I like it! There are so many cool and "out of this world" elements in this photo that I don't know where to begin!

First you got the hot rod, then the funny curled up dog in front, then the expression on the mens' faces and then a pole with handbags? Lol...

Nice stuff!

[jacco]

Thanks for your comments, I am glad you liked it !

Last night I was thinking about getting rid of the handbags, I am please that you actually think its a cool feature Julian. The bags were there because on the right of the picture was a market stand.
The picture was taken in a small village in the mountains where my brother lives, this weekend was party because it was the day of the local virgin (you get loads of parties everywhere in Spain).

[Rufus]

What a cracker!!!

[Petographer]

This is a great photo. Personally I don't like the pole and hand bags. It draws my attention from the main subject matter almost imediately. The center of attention are the old fellers. That is what I love about this image.

[Kombisaurus]

Hi Jacco,

Excellent subject.. and a great photo! Certainly a keeper, and if I took one like that it would be the highlight of my day too!
Like that other photo of that guy singing, this one is another great capture of the character of the old guys, and contrasting that against the parked car.

I agree with petographer in that I think the handbags might be a distraction. "Less is more". In fact, I think anything that draws attention away from the men or the car is only a distraction IMHO. Unfortunately, that also includes the dog! (a shame, as the dog could have made an excellent photo in some other way perhaps?).
Although I love the idea of the car being purple, most of the other colours in the image are distracting, and the lack of colour in the men makes them stand out less, so I thought the b/w treatment might work better here too (and give the men a bit more character).

Again, I hope you don't mind but I threw it into photoshop and gave you my quick-n-nasty[tm] "vision" of it.



Here's what I did:
1) Removed dog and pole and bags
2) Changed the crop
3) Blurred Background
4) Converted to monochrome (using mainly the green channel to make the car look black with silver flames)
5) Did some minor curve editing
6) Did some slight vignetting and blurring of corners - just to try to make the foreground and background a bit better integrated.

I was a bit heavy-handed with the masking and blurring and cloning, but it does the job of getting the point across.

Hope you don't mind me butchering your images.. but this is the critique section, so I'm just trying to share ideas and explore possibilities.

Cheers
Adrian

ps: I also think the dog and bags on the pole could make interesting subjects for photos in their own right.

[Petographer]

I think there could be many variations to this image. One could even crop the photo to include the dog and have just the old guys. All depends on what you are looking to present in the image.

[jacco]

Thanks Petographer and Adrian.

Shame the dog had to go I personally would have left it. Also I think I prefer colour but b&w is great too. Like Peto said, there can probably be many variations to this image.

Some decissions that one can doubt about can suddenly become so obvious when someone shows the way. Removing handbags and blurring background where obvious. Your crop is the one.

So great interpretation Adrian, it looks very professional. Thanks for your effort to help people like myself.

Jacco

[shuttertalk]

Hey nice variation, Kombi. Very artistic indeed.

[jacco]

Another variation on the theme

[shuttertalk]

Nice attempt... although the edited portion (where the legs are) looks very very fake!

How about just leaving the dog there?

[jacco]

[Peted]

I was thinking that you could convert all except the car to B&W. I would demo but I am feeling lazy. Will do it if someone asks really nicely.

[teddyfingers]

Jacco I really like this pic. It just seems like everything is out of sort, and I really like that.

Teddy

[Peted]

Had to try this.

[StudioJ]

Not bad for an ex Perth boy

[jacco]

Yes nice

[shuttertalk]

I like your idea Peted.. although I think the men should be in colour too as they are pretty interesting subjects. Here's my version:

I desaturated the background so that it's not fighting for attention:

[Peted]

I probably should have done a bit more contrast on the background and changed the border and, etc, etc.

[Peted]

Not bad for an ex Perth boy

I like to think of myself as a Perth boy who's circumstances (married 4 kids, wifes family lives locally) preclude me from living there. Most of my brothers and sisters live there as do my Mum and Dad.

[Kombisaurus]

well Peted, I can't blame you for not wanting to be labelled a "canberra boy"!

It seems that the only future a canberra boy would have is:
a) Being a civil-servant.
b) Being a knuckle-dragger at summernats.
c) Working in the porn industry.


I'm an ex-Tassie boy myself, so I realise I've just left myself wide-open for a massive comeback. <looks around for a kiwi to deflect insults towards>

hehe
Cheers
Adrian

[Peted]

Sorry, did someone sqeek??

[Peted]

Cheeky b....... Tasweegens, I actually work for an "ex" Tasweegen, his scars have almost healed where they took off his extra head, how do you hide your?

Oh and I actually very much like Canberra, veru nice place to live and bring up the kids.

And you have to be happy working in the porn industry !!!!!!! Not really that happy but it pays so well you see. But I digress............... often.