Inspiring Photo: Honey seller and red hair girl #10729859

Honey seller and red hair girl

Uploaded: September 06, 2010

Description

Edwardsville, IL. Farmer's market.

Exif: F Number: 10, Exposure Bias Value: 0.00, ExposureTime: 1/800 seconds, Flash: did not fire, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 400, White balance: Manual white balance, FocalLength: 50.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS 50D

Comments

Anthony L. Mancuso September 06, 2010

I like this image alot Peter..the vibrant colors are great and the scene of the adult negotiating a sale with the little one is simply charming...

It does appear as though you did some cloning and left some heavy artifact and pattern repetition in both upper corners, particularly the right, that needs to be cleaned up. Would also selectively open up the shadows in the girls hair.. #1305560

Michael Kelly September 06, 2010

Peter I like this one a lot. Great story with all of the elements present and technically very nice. Nice and simple, good DOF and great Comp. I really like the color in this one.

I do see the corner Tony pointed out, but did not note it until I read his comment so to me that means a successful photo, because usually those kinds of processing errors hit me like a brick. I also did not note the lighten shadow possibility but a slight bit there might also improve the shot. #8885725

Peter W. Marks September 07, 2010

My wife pointed out the not-so-good cloning before I uploaded the image but I ran out of time so laid bets with myself on who would be the first to comment on them. I won! I shot this just before noon on a day without a cloud in the sky so contrast was high and above the man's right shoulder was a very bright white canopy and over his left was a guy with a bright white shirt.
I spot exposed on the subject's white over-alls and got that about right but decided to use a lens-blur filter to fade out the distracting stuff in the background and just pretend I had the right DOF. Then I did the rather poor job of cloning over those white areas.
I will upload a version with various curves adjustments but leaving the original unfiltered BG. What do you think?
I shot this last Saturday and made a radical change in that instead of using my 70-200mm stabilised lens I only carried my 50mm f1.8 smiled broadly and got up fairly close and personal.
#8886182

Michael Kelly September 07, 2010

Peter I think the lens blur putting the BG out of focus helps the shot by eliminating the distractions in the BG. This last post looks good to me except for that. #8886579

Debbie E. Payne September 07, 2010

I like this shot, Peter. Glad you left your large lens at home. You caught a very cute moment between the two of them - regardless of which background you chose to incorporate into the picture. #8886655

Carla Capra Anderson September 07, 2010

Hi Peter;
I love the story this image conveys. I bet that little girlie is charming the honey vendor and walks away with the prize.

I did notice the editing issues referenced by the other Phello's. I personally like your last post, distractions included.

:) CC #8886710

Dale Hardin September 07, 2010

Even without text, your images tell a story Peter. A real gift. I even believe that we all see the same story which is a testament to your vision.

The rub is in how to best convey that story visually and I think you are definitely on the right track. Using background blur and a bit of cloning can steer the eye forward but for me, not far enough.

The story is the girl and she needs to be the center of attention. One problem with Photoshop is that it makes it easy to go too far which is a big problem I have in spades. It's much easier to see it other's work than my own! LOL!

In this case the effect is a bit much and is too obvious especially since you missed the spot under his right arm. Tony pretty much nailed it on that issue.

A good trick is to isolate the main subject first and it makes it easier to manipulate the background. You can then not only apply blurring, but levels, saturation, gradients etc. etc at will without effecting the main part of the image.

In turn you can then apply effects to the main subject without effecting the background. A good thing! So I took you up on your invitation to grab the shot and make recommendations. In this case, you'll notice I pretty much left the background alone with no cloning and concentrated on highlighting the girl. #8886910

Peter W. Marks September 07, 2010

I really do thank you all for your comments on this image. My vision for it started when I stood there in the market. I knew that this was something I wanted, no, needed, to capture. I would have loved this no matter whose photograph it was and so I am very happy that Dale has picked up the challenge and turned a good vision into an extremely good image.
Thanks again friends; I shall be back there next Saturday as it is such a rich location for candid shots. I am fortunate in having the gift of the gab and a grin that seems to disarm subjects. My method is to shoot first then make friends as this way I don't get static, posed or self-conscious images. However I have to accept that for any one that succeds, I delete a few dozen. #8887093

Aimee C. Eisaman September 07, 2010

Looks like mom or grandma is buying some honey for her or maybe she was going to try a sample? YOu only delete a few dozen.....your better than me. I take 700 pictures and end up with 20! LOL I think you had the right idea here to try to tone down the background stuff, but as others have mentioned there were some issues with that. :~) #8887782

Teresa H. Hunt September 08, 2010

Peter, I love this shot! You've captured a sweet moment. I'm not sure how to help you with the background.

But I have an issue with the work you did on her hair. She has beautiful red hair . . . but in your edit it looks like orange red hair. As the daughter of a red haired woment I feel the need to point that out. So I'd back off on the edit there about half way. :)

Also, I'm not sure when it happened, but there is now a really wierd line down the girls arm, the one closest to the table. It's not in the original post . . . but it is on the edit. It looks like she did a very poor job of cleaning her self in the bath. #8888894

Rita K. Connell September 08, 2010

this shot is a true gold mine....I really like it alot. I do like her hair with the shadows open up and I do see what teresa see' s on the funny line on her right arm. but for me I think the back ground blur out maded the picture all about the gentleman and little girl .....

really a great shot Pete #8889092

Michael Kelly September 08, 2010

Peter so much going on here. I think you should go with the first post. I think you vision was true and I like it the best. I would just redo the clone work and I think you have a winner. #8889117

Peter W. Marks September 08, 2010

You are right Teresa, there is a strange line down the girl's arm. I went back to the RAW image and can see a fairly hard-edged shadow there and can only suppose that when I applied curves and a high-pass filter to the image it somehow created this effect. It should be a lesson to me as I flattened the image as so am not able to see what settings I used.
The girls red hair is pretty much as I both saw it and shot it. I had drawn attention to it to a person whom I was talking with and she remarked that the sunlit part almost exactly matched the child's orange dress.
Sometime I will rework the image and perhaps resubmit it but until then thank you all for your help.
And Aimee, using my fingers and toes I think you and I have about the same success ratio. If my 'few dozen' is say three dozen ie 36 images then that is almost exactly the same as your 20 in 700 so we both achieve around 3%. You are just more trigger happy than I but I am a throwback to the days when a roll of 36exp Kodachrome in my old OM2 Olympus film camera was as much as I wanted to waste. lol It is so painless to just press 'delete' on a digital camera or computer but holding a box of 36 slides over a trash can and going 'trash, trash, trash, trash .... is a whole different feeling.lol #8889144

Aimee C. Eisaman September 08, 2010

LOL I once had a film camera and remember holding back with my trigger finger, but now.....I just can't control it! :~) #8889581

Teresa H. Hunt September 08, 2010

Pete, her hair only looked orange to me in the edited photo's. It looks very nautral in your original post. :) #8889794

Dale Hardin September 10, 2010

Teresa, I think there's a bit of confusion here. The "edited" photo is one I did using the posted image via a screen-shot. If you look on all the images that are posted, the arm thingy is on all of them.

I believe the hair looks a bit more "orange" simply because it is brighter. If you use the eyedropper in PS you'll find the color numbers are nearly identical. #8893447

Teresa H. Hunt September 11, 2010

Dale, I'm not confused. :) I went back and looked at the original. I don't see the line on her arm at all. Both yours and Peter's edited photo's make her hair look more orange and the line on her arm is there on both of them. So when I talked about the edited ones I just grouped them together.

I know in the original post that her hair looks a bit orange. But by lightening the shadows in her hair it really looks orange. And she has such pretty red hair it's a shame to turn it that bright of an orange. :) #8894541

Dale Hardin September 11, 2010

LOL. This is funny Teresa. I'm afraid there is just a bit of confusion. I also went back and looked and it seems to be due to who is referencing to what. By "original" I was referring to his unedited original image which is the second image he posted and the artifact is there. (that is the image I based my changes on)

His "original" posting, which is his "edited" version does not have it because of his use of filters etc. :o)

On the hair, my red (orange) haired grandson would say the color is right on. But having never seen the girl, I must admit that there is no way for me to know for sure. :D #8894766

Teresa H. Hunt September 12, 2010

Very true on the color of her hair Dale. My mom has red hair . . . but it's not the orange-red hair that a lot of people have . . . #8896075

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