Track Coach Portrait for Newspaper

termina3

Below is a photo I took for my high school newspaper.

The article was about champions and championships; as a student (in the past), this coach was a star track athlete. Now he's the head track coach.

Some thoughts:
Things seem washed out to me. Yes? If so, a quick link or suggestion to a fix would be helpful (not a technique thread, although a link to one would work). Post-processing quick ideas also helpful.

How is the composition? Is the centerweight working?

The track hurdle is intentional… St. John's is the school name… and the scoreboard in the background is a staple of our main football field (around which the track circles). The photo was taken in lane one of the track. Should the hurdle be higher? (I liked the current height.)

Also, any specific thoughts on the pose would be great. This is the one he chose naturally when I stuck the hurdle in front of him; I also asked him to go for a few others.

Of course, anything else that you notice… shoot away.

Thanks!

Scott_Quier

How's this.

What was done:

• Curves to increase contrast
• A bit of an increase in saturation - but not much
• Crop to 2:3 ratio and taking him out of the center of the photo

termina3

Thanks! I like the edits–good stuff to know–except I would've kept the full "St. John's" of the hurdle in.

heatherfeather

Why don't you just select the St Johns and scoot it over? That would give you the best of both worlds.

And in addition to what Scott said, set your black point. I am not sure what color his shirt is... but it looks gray, not black.

Mr. 2H2O

I agree with Scott about the curves - when you pull the dark areas down a little it creates more separation from the background - I personally would do more than Scott's suggestion.

I disagree with the saturation though - the pic has a slight red hue and when I color correct it using the hurdle as the white point, his skin looks more natural. Also noting that he has a slight ruddy complexion.

- Mike

T. Bombadil

termina3 wrote:

Below is a photo I took for my high school newspaper. . . .

Nice photo, and I like what Scott did (he is an expert, so no surprise there). I'm wondering if it will appear in color in the newspaper or in b&w.

Should we be looking at a B&W conversion?

Hackbone

Really a pretty cool start. Just get the black pt up as explained.

Darren Troy C

His face, to me....and maybe b/c of the monitor I am viewing, has a noticable orange cast in the edited version.

termina3

Actually, because this is for the newspaper, I can't "move" the SJS over. That's altering the image too much for journalistic ethics.

And as to the grayscale/color question: I don't know. That's one of those things that I'm not told--I find out when I see a press copy. (Also one of the things that I'd like to fix as an editor next year.)

Blackpoint: good idea. I feel like I thought of that, but then either forgot or just didn't follow through. I definitely remember that his shirt was black--but had obviously been through the wash multiple times. Maybe that's what held me up.

Thanks for the tips!

Edit: my edits based on tips:

Mr. 2H2O

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Edit: my edits based on tips:

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Yup, thats what my version looked like when I ran it through - I think it looks correct.

- Mike

rutt

Am I the only one bothered by that red wall of the building in the back? It looks like an arrow aimed at his neck. B&W can save the day here, but there are probably other ways to handle it (maybe not consistent with strict PJ ethics.)

But you need to be proactive with the B&W conversion. Simple techniques don't resolve that brick red into a light enough color to resolve the composition.

termina3

@ rutt:

Thanks for the conversion. The "red wall" in the background is actually an element of the photo though… not a major one, but it's a scoreboard that would be recognized by anyone who's part of the community. That's why I don't think it's that big a deal for the red to be in the photo (school colors are red and black too).

With that said, I still like the grayscale version--everything is retained. I might make the track hurdle a little less white, but that's nitpicking.