Men are pigs
by MinsoPhoto

Comment by tanguera:
Joshua...??? Quite terrifying. In a very artistic way

Men are pigs
by MinsoPhoto

Comment by Tommy_Mac:
This is just great Joshua!!

Men are pigs
by MinsoPhoto

Comment by Denielle:
haha!
made me laugh.
love the idea. great shot.
hatchet is a nice touch!
great black and white.

Men are pigs
by MinsoPhoto

Comment by Lydia:
Oh my word! You went there! LOL! I. Love. This.

I hope it ribbons.

(commenting only)

Men are pigs
by MinsoPhoto

Comment by Jutilda:
ROFL I wish that right eye had a catch light. :)

Into the Abyss
by MinsoPhoto

Comment by gyaban:

Originally posted by MinsoPhoto: Thanks for the response. Gyaban, thank you for that, and thank you for the compliment. I did use color efex but i do believe the high pass I also used did give me the halos you see. The sharpness was an issue even though I could have easily shot f11 or more I chose to try softer but I lost my place marker on the floor when I got to this shot. The importance of checking sharpness at 100% on my lcd screen, I would have seen it before finishing up. Thank you for the suggestions, very much appreciated.

You're very welcome. I also have those focus problems when I shoot auto-portraits, and I end-up often either:
- Leaving the auto-focus on, and using an assist light on me to make sure it catches me accurately
- Using manual focus and a very narrow aperture (I don't hesitate to go to f/22: that's why I pay for L lenses after all, to be able to use them at extreme settings and still have a decent image quality).

Into the Abyss
by MinsoPhoto

Comment by HCvE:
gave you a 7, i liked it

Into the Abyss
by MinsoPhoto

Comment by MinsoPhoto:
Thanks for the response. Gyaban, thank you for that, and thank you for the compliment. I did use color efex but i do believe the high pass I also used did give me the halos you see. The sharpness was an issue even though I could have easily shot f11 or more I chose to try softer but I lost my place marker on the floor when I got to this shot. The importance of checking sharpness at 100% on my lcd screen, I would have seen it before finishing up. Thank you for the suggestions, very much appreciated.

Into the Abyss
by MinsoPhoto

Comment by gyaban:
This was my highest vote, and by far the most interesting shot in the challenge imho. It's original, it asks questions, and it makes a great use of negative space.

The only thing I like less is the processing: I'm not fond of the background grain, the gradient isn't very smooth, and the subject lacks sharpness (to my taste at least). According to the visible halo, you probably used a 'highpass' filter in a soft-light blended layer (or a plugin achieving similar results), but it doesn't really work here as it puts emphasis even more on that lack of sharpness. Depending on the power of your lights, you could perhaps try a similar shot with a larger DoF (don't hesitate to raise ISO if needed, your camera can handle it easily). Then try to avoid processing that creates halos, it's often preferable to raise micro-contrast instead (Topaz Adjust or Color Efex for example work nicely for that).

ETA: I meant 'Topaz Detail', not Adjust (that I tend to avoid).

Message edited by author 2012-10-10 05:41:48.

Into the Abyss
by MinsoPhoto

Comment by hahn23:
Love the gradient background. I gave this an "8". I thought it met the challenge well.