Grit

I decided to try out a few things with Lightroom over this week.

I was keen to play around with a few of the photos I took a couple of weeks ago at the Crossfit comp I photographed, but finish them differently.

The aim was to create a gritter / darker / grungy look which I think suits Crossfit well. I've cropped quite heavily in a few to focus in on the athlete, but unfortunately some are just not sharp enough for a lot of cropping.

First, just a few black & whites using Silver Efex Pro 2

I also found a tutorial that talked about using Gradient filters to darken the background and using Radiant filters to bring out the athletes eyes allowing the athlete to pop out in the photo. A good chance to give them a go I figured. I also used some masking to brighten the athlete's face. All done in Lightroom.

So here are a few where I have tried for that darker grungier look.

Does it work?

Interested to see what people think.