Hi Robert -
From the "
Feedback" thread that you started recently, as well as the current thread, much to your credit, it seems that you have (or at least are working on) a well defined artistic vision, an aged, Dragan-like look, that you would like to pursue.
This is much different than the vast majority of people who discover how easy it is to completely change the look of an image with plugins, LR/ACR presets, actions, and even just Instagram FX. They fall in love with their newfound ability, and then, stop by this forum, post a few randomly modified images and ask, "What do you think?" with little or no sense of what they are trying to achieve in their imagery, where they want to go artistically, or, for that matter, if a particular effect is beneficial to a given subject. IMHO, doing this might be loads of fun, but the long term artistic value of such random experiments or slider movements is essentially zero.
With respect to the Dragan-like look in your images, since it clearly was overused (in the above way) by many photographers a few years ago, it became something of a cliche and some wags even started calling it the "Old Greek Fisherman look".
.
However, if your intent is not just technical experimentation, but perhaps, producing a series of modified photos with some common theme that involves this look, then I say, "all the more power to you".
The images produced by random copiers of the Dragan and Dave Hill will surely go by the way of bell bottom jeans, afros, Hallmark greeting cards that are mostly B&W with a single spot of color, tail fins on cars, yellow-green cross processing to signify a gritty locale, etc. But, if your output is a coherent collection of images titled something like, "Aging" or "Laborers" or "In the Gym", your work will likely stand the test of time much better.
With respect to other aspects of the two images you have posted thusfar, in both, you have elected to isolate the subject against a plain background. This makes for very powerful portraits of the individuals, but my personal preference would be more towards environmental portraits that suggest to the viewer reasons they look the way they do, or may look that way in the future.
Anyway, just my $0.02,
Cheers,
Tom M
