The Miller of Boot

[John 2]

Haven't posted for some time. Pre Christmas was a very busy time and post Christmas has been quite difficult. We had to say goodbye to our Miniature Schnauzer of 16 1/2 years. I know there are some dog lovers on the forum and so they will understand when I say that this wasn't a happy household for a few days. Then I found I had a very malicious virus on the computer which my security software found but only after the damage was done. My security software (BitDefender) thought that it had cleared it. But even after a system reinstall, it kept on returning. BitDefender are still investigating the problem but in the meantime I found a workflow on the internet using four separate pieces of software (thankfully all initially free) that finally cleaned out the problem. Even so, I thought that I should wait for a couple or three weeks to be sure before uploading anything to CIC again. All seems to be well however.

The Miller of Boot isn't really an active miller but he does own a fairly old mill in the English Lake District. It's more of a tourist attraction these days. The treatment was added to try and capture the feeling of general dilapidation and gloom within the building.

As always C&C very welcome.

[Shadowman]

Nice gritty portrait.

[Manfred M]

John - I can understand what you are trying to do here, but this image just doesn't work for me.

I find that your "miller" looks so over-processed, to the point that I wonder if you were doing still images for a zombie movie. Perhaps a lighter touch?

[IzzieK]

+1 to Manfred's comment here...

[Dave Humphries]

I'm sorry to read of your loss John,

I don't think your treatment is the problem, the big thing with successful portraits is (amongst many) good lighting and here the lighting is, photogenically, terrible - hard shadows in bad places (cheek), vastly different white balanced light sources (much lower CT from his right/our left).

This lighting would be a struggle even if there were far more 'environment' in the portrait, but as it stands, I'm afraid it's not great - sorry. Chances are it might have been better if he'd stood as little as 75mm/3 inches further left/right or forwards backwards from where he is when this was snapped, then, if processed in monochrome to eradicate the white balance issues, it could well have worked.

I bet to the naked eye, the contrast of shadows and white balance of lighting didn't look anywhere near this bad, so I do understand the problems.

Hope that helps, Dave

[GBO25]

Definitely a gritty character and excellent subject but I too think it's a bit over processed.

[wilgk]

Sorry indeed for the loss of your beloved pet. I do hope the commuter glitches have been solved.
I like the idea of this portrait, but for me the lighting & shadow areas on his face don't work as well as they could, when combined with his expression & eyes.
I feel the shadow on the rt doesn't work with how that side of his face is shown.

[WJT]

What a great photo. His character is well captured and the background speaks volumes. Nice shot.

[John 2]

Thanks all for your comments. The processing is deliberate. The original has been put through the Bleach By-Pass filter in Nik Colour Efex. Originally aimed at some UK photo comps but as all the posted comments suggest, it's had a mixed reception. Bit of a Marmite image (like it or hate it).
Dave/Kay, thanks for your kind thought on our pooch but at 16+ years, we were expecting it. Still a hole in our lives though.