It’s Hip, It’s Happen’n, It’s Grunge!
It is very trendy. You see it everywhere. It is the grunge look that is so popular in advertising. Pick up most magazines and you will find an ad or an editorial image with this effect added to it. I never really thought it would be something I would add to my images, just to be trendy. Then one day last week I was playing around with new presets that Matt Kloskowski made and I was grabbed by the effect. He calls it the 300 effect. You know, the movie, where everything has a brownish golden tint, but the blood, of course — that was red. Then I tweaked it… a lot, and made it mine, so to speak. But, I do want to give him credit for the overall effect. I gave mine more saturation than his, he took out all but the red. I gave mine much more fill light, plus a few other touches. It doesn’t work for every image and there are images that even when it does technically work , they are not suited for the effect. So I went through a bunch of images and picked theses. Some of the images work better than others. What are your thoughts? Do these images deserve a gallery of their own on The Digital Trekker? Right now they are only accessible through the blog at this URL. Tell me what you think. To Grunge or not to Grunge, that is the question.
Matt, I like the grunge look. I like it especially on shots like the shaggy haired boy. The original of the purple and gold Sikh is one of my favorites, so it is hard for me to put the grunge one above the original, but over all I like the effect….that is an amateur who is not “TMB” likes the effect.
I looked back at the Sikh, I really like the tone of the face and the blue. It is a tough call.
It’s too over the top for my taste.
I like the effect, probably because it resonates nostalgic for me. You know the older, tinted look in post cards from 100 years ago. As a young girl, I use to collect stamps and have seen a lot of old postcards. The colors in grunge also remind me of a palette of colors found in pre WWII stamps from around the world. I think, culturally, our eyes have been oversaturated with technicolor, for lack of a more accurate term. Grunge offers an alternative respite, as do your beautifully composed portraits. Thanks Matt.
I think you’ll find Mike Lao created the original 300 preset – Matt Kloskowski modified it.
I think asking “to grunge or not to grunge” is a preemptive question. More importantly – does adding a post-production grunge or any efect, for that matter, help you fulfill your vision for the image, or is it a stop-gap for a picture that otherwise doesn’t cut it. I don’t think any of your work “needs” the grunge so the first question is more relevant.
I know Mike Lao’s preset, I have used it on some of my Delhi images, his is quite different than Matt K’s. But I am happy to give both the credit. There was no way I was going to come up with it on my own!
Holy cow…I did the same thing when I saw this preset on the Killer Tips blog. I applied it to a bunch of my shots too…even posted a couple on the TPN which I think were well recieved. One comment I got was that this treatment would certainly exclude the possibility of using the shot in some markets…what are your thoughts??