Hands

[Chataignier]

Jazz musician Gilles Chatard's hands photographed live on stage during a concert in the Limoges Jazz Festival.

[DanK]

I really like this. IMHO, it's a superb shot, and it is fascinating to look at it at length.

My one suggestion (you'll see a pattern here) is some dodging and burning. I would lighten the bottom surface of the left hand, which is part of the subject, and darken the white shirt at the top right, which draws the eyes.

It's an odd instrument--seemingly a variant of a flugelhorn, but with a much less flared bell than one usually sees on modern flugelhorns.

This one is worth hanging on the wall, in my view.

[Round Tuit]

Impressive.

[Chataignier]

OK Dan, as you say, there is a pattern to all this. Perhaps I'm not subtle enough with the dodge and burn, but having tried your suggestion I really dont like the result as much as the original. Here is my attempt : careful selection of the white shirt toned down and the hand lightened.



Here is a half way version, this was done by simply adding a linear gradient down from the top right and reducing the highlights and exposure a tad, then a similar linear gradient from the bottom raising the shadows.



I'm a bit happier with this, but all in all I still prefer the original. What do you think ?

[Chataignier]

Re above, I'm trying to analyse why I like the variants less, and I think it comes down mainly to the reduced contrast between the shirt and the hands. In the original, this contrast pulls the eye to the key part of the image which is the hands.

PS : Speaking of hands, Im quite proud of the steadiness of mine, I could not get close, this was taken in low light at 300mm on an APS, so 450mm effective, no support.

[DanK]

As you explained in another thread, your taste runs to high contrast, so I'll take that as a given here.

However, as Manfred has pointed out, the eye is naturally drawn to areas of high contrast. The red circle shows roughly where my eye went when I first looked at this.



It that's your goal, then the edits I suggested wouldn't be productive. However, that's not what I would want, if the image were mine. The hands would be the subject, and the flugelhorn would be the environment, if you will.

To do what I was suggesting would take a lot more detailed burning and dodging than linear gradients. I would darken the shirt and possibly, although less so, the bell of the horn. I'd dodge the parts of the hand currently in shadow and would probably increase midtone or local contrast (texture) on the hand. I would leave the high contrast between the hand and the instrument, which is where I would want the eye to go. But just my taste.

[Chataignier]

For the first modified version, top of my previous post, I selected and darkened the shirt and dodged darker parts of the lower hand. Is that not what you suggested ? What do you think of the result ? Here it is again for ref :

[DanK]

I think that's better. My previous post was in response to your saying that you prefer the original. I was just explaining why I don't.

[royent]

The flugel in queston is an Eb soprano
Roy

[DanK]

Roy,

Thanks. As a former (VERY former) amateur trumpet and cornet player, this interests me. Had I persisted, which I certainly should have), I was hoping to try a flugelhorn of some type because they are so mellow. Is the barely flared bell characteristic of that specific type?

Dan

[royent]

Dan I can't remember, the last ( and only ) one I ever saw was when I was in th army about 1996
Roy

[Chataignier]

@Dan : Thanks for the comments, suggestions and feedback, that's how we move forward.
Regards
David