Never been that sure what “painterly” really means, other than “a bit like a painting” but it’s probably the closest descriptive term for this sort of thing. Another term would be “rescuing an out of focus photo by ramping up the contrast to an absurd degree” but as long as the effect is pleasing who cares what you call it.
Here’s one I just uploaded of a cyclist crossing the road at dusk.
The light had nearly gone and I was shooting as I crossed the road trying to catch her before she headed off so the image is a bit blurry. In fact, here’s what it looked like out of the camera:
Normally that would be a write-off but by playing with the exposure, contrast and white balance in Lightroom I’m able to produce something quite unique.
Here’s another one from last weekend:
Which originally looked like this:
I ‘m liking these so much it’s getting to the stage where I’m tempted to deliberately blur the shots, although to be honest it’s hard to fake. The main thing is noticing the subject and getting the framing right. The rest is down to luck.