Two years ago I was lucky to attend the Weston-super-Mare Carnival which you can read about here During the carnival I shot off a load of images of people taking part. The original background to this image was a part of a carnival float but it was just too distracting, so I cut him out and added him to a background of my own.
Does that dark background work?
To cut him out I used a great program called Topaz Re-Mask, post processing in Photoshop was basically blending the layers and adding a touch of NIK Glamour Glow, which helps with blending the two layers. As the area around his eyes was dark I also used a bit of the Photoshop Dodge tool just to highlite the eyes.
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Say It With A Camera 
Beyond the rich color, there is so much character in the clowns face that you captured. The black background works for me.
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I think what helped to bring out the character was the low light. The carnival is on a winters night and the only light is from the thousands of light bulbs on the floats. It meant I could photograph without using flash…
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Wow! That is one of the coolest photos I’ve seen in this week’s challenge – thanks for sharing it!
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Why Thank You Robin, that’s a nice complement
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Great photo. His face is so expressive. Colors are vivid and really pop. Thanks for sharing (and for visiting my blog…much appreciated.)
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Thank you. On the night I took this photograph he was the only one who did not acknowledge me, Others smiled but he just sort of stared into empty space.
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I think the new background works very well. Great photo!
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The old background was very distracting and took away from that expressive face and colour of his outfit. I made the decision to mute the background by basically removing it and substituting something else.
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Love this one
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Thank You. I wasn’t sure whether to submit or not, especially as I changed the background.
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This is a nice colorful photo. You take nice pictures.
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Thank you so much….it’s always nice to get compliments on your work.
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This background totally works ! Your subject is really in the center of the attention. That’s really a great colorfull photo ! Congratulation !!
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An excellent study. I wonder how many years he’s been a clown? – there’s a few lifetimes in that face 🙂
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I don’t think he was a clown. It was just a costume for the carnival, but I agree about his face, it’s so expressive…
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heheh that as so colorful..even his face has this pink dominant color.
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Probably came from the lighting, I could have spent ages in Photoshop correcting things but in the end I just changed the background because it was too busy….
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He is truly colorful.
Nice shot !
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Thank you
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He seems to be a very content (colorful) clown!
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Personally I thought he was a “grumpy old man”, everyone else was smiling at the time, but maybe he had a lot to think about….
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Fantastic concept! Loved it
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Thank You. It was an obvious choice for colourful
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To me this pic is symbolic fpr irony. Colours usually mean happy, joyous!
This man looks very pained somehow.
But an awesome click!
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As I said earlier, everyone was smiling but he just wanted to keep a straight face
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The dark background is perfect. It enhanced the bright colors of the subject. It appears more alive. Great choice.
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Hi! Great image! The background works completely with his sombre look, and then the contrast with the colour 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my blog and taking the time to leave a comment – appreciated 🙂
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Thank you for your comment
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The dignity his face exudes is an interesting contrast to his clown suit and makeup. Great capture!
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I’m not sure if it was dignity or just not being happy about being there
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So much vivid colour and texture. Love the dark background with the silvery whisps.
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The backgrounds I make myself. I also make textures that can be used to give a photo a “grungy look”. The post My Old Boots is an example of using textures…..
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H’m. That’s literally colorful!
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He does stand out…
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