Slightly surreal...

Those who follow my work...err...play, know that I get all grungy and dirty in some of my shots.  Well, not me, the finished shot.  I love that look in some cases.  As always, it's season to taste and it doesn't work for everything, but when it does, it rocks a very thought provoking look. I've had a few people ask how I do this look so I thought I'd share here.

grunge

This particular shot was done totally using Lightroom Basic settings all contorted beyond typical and reasonable settings.  Many people never go off the edge to see just how far it can go and that's to bad.  It's fun to go to the extremes and find how each changes a shot...and then how they change a shot in combination.  I never teach 'step by step' because that doesn't work with something like Lightroom or Photoshop.  It's like painting with brushes and tubes of paint on a blank canvass.  Knowing how to 'feel' the painting in your mind and then applying the tools to make it happen are the way to do it.  Step 1, step 2, step 3, etc. just doesn't work.

So, here you go.  How THIS particular shot was made and the settings used.  Try it on a few shots...some will work and some just won't.  It's not a magic setting that I use all the time.

Enjoy...good luck...and let me know how it works for you.