Leon S Loc: Minnesota

After thinking about the advise given me on my first post here, I had to try another post to see if I learned anything. I know that the subject should have been turned a little more or I should have moved my position to accommodate, but the subject would than have only turned away completely. The subject was remembering her life in the area and the friends she lost. Please tell me how I might improve this shot and feel free to make changes as you feel. Thanks.

My home town

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CajonPhotog Loc: Shreveport, LA

I like your picture and fully understand about friends and relatives dodging the camera. I have taken a volume of photo of rear ends, backs, hands, and the wonderful finger gesture, while trying to capture a photo for the family album or other purpose. So, here is my humble attempt, I wanted to perk up the rather dull sky/background, adjust the skin tone just a tad, and remove the gay on her right elbow area. I thought a crop using the rule of thirds would work but could not decide on anything that would have been better than what you have. So, here is my attempt:

Lady-cloud edit

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

Thanks for the work. I wanted to do something with the sky but I'm not that far along with pp yet. I did it once, but forgot how I got it done. I appreciate your time. Leon

R.G. Loc: Scotland

I thought I'd try the advice I offered for your last one, and gave it more of an evening sunset look. This is about as extreme as I would want to go, but maybe a bit too far for your tastes. There is detail in the original sky that comes out when you tone down the highlights (that wasn't quite enough, so I put the Whites slider to the far left as well). If you want to try it yourself, here are the settings for ACR.

Temp : +15. Tint : +5. Exposure : +0.3.

Highlights and Whites both set to -100.

JohnnyT789 Loc: Conyers,Georgia

I cropped it and then ran it thru Topaz detail 3. The pink dress just didn't work for me.

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minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Sounds like your subject isn't keen on being photographed. My oldest son is like that, just bring out a camera and watch him disappear. I'm glad to know there's someone else who takes pictures of the backs of people - I have a bunch of them, and will be posting another soon.(First one received very mixed reviews)

I thought your photo was serious and sad as well as contemplative. So I moved your photo away from the cheerful bright colors and went to a cropped monochrome of the parts I thought most important - the woman, the monument, and the environment. In your first image, you got some comments about the dark glasses but I don't think she's gonna part with them, so I made them even darker. To me, they are a metaphor for her mood. She is seeing "through the darkness" and her vision is darkened by what she has lost to time in this place.

Hope you keep posting & joining in the discussion of other peoples' photos -you will learn a lot. I already know how I feel about my photos, but here I learn how other people experience them. I want to please myself first and last, but I want to know how to capture and present a photo that others find meaningful too.

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St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Hey Leon, I like this one is better. There are a few things you might consider, but showing her face adds emotion and ties me to it.

To consider -
- polarized filter - to show the blue of the sky
- backgrounds - a step to the right would remove the bush growing from her face
- backgrounds - leaving the space in-front of her would add depth
- crop - eyes are drawn to bright areas and her skirt is out of color with the rest of the scene. Crop it out

Don't forget to shoot from different heights. Shooting from above makes her small, while shooting from up adds strength.

Thank you for posting and hope this helps! Steve

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

Just got back home and was able to check the comments. I like what you have done with the sky. As time goes on, I will get better at post processing and be able to deal with that issue also. I had to look up ACR (?adobe camera raw I believe) I haven't got to that lessen yet in my self taught program. I will in time. Thanks for your help.

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

I can totally understand your opinion of her pink skirt. The fact is that the lady is a master seamstress and makes and designs everything she wears. That outfit is who she is. So I left it as such, but I understand how you feel. That is a part of living through the 60's.
Thanks.

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

Your right, I'm one of the only persons she will let photograph her, but not from the left side. Look close and you can see near her lip the start of why. The dark glasses helps her hide the problem. My opinion. I am developing my own style. I want to know more about post processing, but don't to become a photo painter. Nothing wrong with that, but I would like to capture more of what God has placed in front of me to see and be grateful for that. I like sharp clear images that grab your attention. This is what I hope to gain from posting as I learn more about processing. Thanks for your time.

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

Thanks Steve, I appreciate your suggestions and will put them into practice whenever I can. I'll check into getting a 77 mm polarized filter for such occasions.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

You will love it!

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

OK, I am going to go based on the info you have given and what I think you wanted to convey.
Others have given you advice about colouring, tones, shades, casts etc.
I think they are missing the point and I think this shot misses the point for the same reason.

Its about the story you want to tell.
At the moment, all she is, is someone staring sideways.
She is not staring or connected to the plaque, not connected to the history at all. She is looking away from it.
To tell the story, I want to see the story in what she is looking at.

I want to see her, remembering, thinking, feeling.
I want to see her reading the plaque, deep in thought, reminiscing, her fingers tracing the letters of the plaque, the plaque telling the story of her home town.
It doesn't matter if the plaque tells the town history or not. The photo will tell her story.
She could be turned more from you, an angle more comfortable for her.
In black and white, for mood, and to nullify the distracting pink dress.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Amen

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If you open Photoshop then click on FILE at the top left, one of the options in that menu is "Open in Camera RAW". If you click on that you get a browse window that you can use to find your pic. ACR can open a Jpeg file (it doesn't have to be RAW).

The tools that ACR gives you are what some PP suites have as quick-fix options. In other words they are a simplified but effective selection of tools for sorting the basic stuff in pictures. And when you've done that, you can go straight to the usual workspace in Photoshop Elements (click on Open Image at the bottom right corner).