Team work - C&C are welcome !!

[Tejal]

Dear All,

Herewith I am posting one pic from the series "Team Work". Please share your C&C for the same.

Regards,

Tejal

IMG_9798 as Smart Object-1 by Tejal Imagination, on Flickr

[just me]

WOW.......beautiful colours, and also the light etc......for me this photo looks just perfect........

Griddi.......

[Tejal]

WOW.......beautiful colours, and also the light etc......for me this photo looks just perfect........

Griddi.......

thanks Griddi . I am glad you liked it.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Tejal,

Nice light and general composition - plus good exposure and colours.
I do miss the feet of the nearest person though.

Plenty of atmosphere and action in this shot, well done.


I know I have raised this before with some of your shots, but there are definite signs of uncorrected lateral Chromatic Aberration (CA). I cannot see from EXIF what you're using for PP, but if LR or PS, this really is as simple as a single check-box that needs 'ticking' to enable, so easy to do (and no reason not to do it on every shot - IF you're using ACR in PS or LR).


I don't have time now, but if you'd like me to snip a couple of areas from this shot to show how I identify the CA, let me know and I'll oblige. I haven't ever tried this, but I might be able to download the image to my PS/ACR and correct it there and re-post the result.

HTH, Dave

[Tejal]

Hi Tejal,

Nice light and general composition - plus good exposure and colours.
I do miss the feet of the nearest person though.

Plenty of atmosphere and action in this shot, well done.


I know I have raised this before with some of your shots, but there are definite signs of uncorrected lateral Chromatic Aberration (CA). I cannot see from EXIF what you're using for PP, but if LR or PS, this really is as simple as a single check-box that needs 'ticking' to enable, so easy to do (and no reason not to do it on every shot - IF you're using ACR in PS or LR).


I don't have time now, but if you'd like me to snip a couple of areas from this shot to show how I identify the CA, let me know and I'll oblige. I haven't ever tried this, but I might be able to download the image to my PS/ACR and correct it there and re-post the result.

HTH, Dave

Many many thanks Dave . Yes you had told me about. My mistake that I didnt zoom the image and check it. I do processing in PS. And I would love to know how to how you identify the CA. I will be highly obliged, if you share it.

[Shadowman]

Nice sense of scale and capture of the atmosphere, colors, and action. Great series, looking to see more.

[Tejal]

Nice sense of scale and capture of the atmosphere, colors, and action. Great series, looking to see more.

Thanks John . Some more pics are there of the same place taken on the same day. I will post them very soon.

[Manfred M]

Another nice image, Tejal. The main issue I have with this shot is the lighting on the main subjects face. She is standing in shade and her face is quite dark. If you look at her arms, the sun is hitting there and lighting things up nicely. At a minimum your need to bring out some detail in her face and lighten it up.

As Dave has mentioned, cutting off the feet is probably not the best for this composition. And yes, the CA is there and is so easy to deal with when you import the image, a minor change in your workflow would totally fix this issue.

The subject also looks a touch soft, whereas the person in the middle ground looks sharp. I see what might be a touch of motion blur, but at an 18mm focal length at f/ii at 1/160th sec, I suspect that you might have missed on the focus just a bit.

In conclusion, nice image but a number of niggly little issues with it means it is not quite perfect.

[Tejal]

Another nice image, Tejal. The main issue I have with this shot is the lighting on the main subjects face. She is standing in shade and her face is quite dark. If you look at her arms, the sun is hitting there and lighting things up nicely. At a minimum your need to bring out some detail in her face and lighten it up.

As Dave has mentioned, cutting off the feet is probably not the best for this composition. And yes, the CA is there and is so easy to deal with when you import the image, a minor change in your workflow would totally fix this issue.

The subject also looks a touch soft, whereas the person in the middle ground looks sharp. I see what might be a touch of motion blur, but at an 18mm focal length at f/ii at 1/160th sec, I suspect that you might have missed on the focus just a bit.

In conclusion, nice image but a number of niggly little issues with it means it is not quite perfect.

Many thanks Manfred for your valuable inputs. Light was quite harsh and the light light was falling on her directly. She is bent in front, that's why her face is dark. Cutting the leg - actually some bricks are there in front and in left side, truck's front part is there. There for while cropping i cropped the portion of truck and the bricks in front, so that the i can bring the lady in front more close. The work was going on so speedily, bcoz of that i think i missed the focus and there was no enough space even to stand and more over i didn't want to disturb their work because of my presence. I know, all these dont work, only result matters . But inputs always help to correct ourselves for future shot and we can keep ourselves careful.

Thanks once again.

[bnnrcn]

Although there are some technical issues about the image as they have already been mentioned, it is a good image as a part of your 'team work' set

[rpcrowe]

Nice image showing a facet of a very hard life as a laborer...

I noticed the same things as were mentioned before.

1. The intense shadow on the backlit main subject. If I were shooting in India, or anywhere in which the sun is very bright and harsh combined with the subjects generally being of a darker skin shade, I would definitely use fill flash. Using fill flash would open up the shadows covering the main subject. Shooting with high speed sync (or the Nikon equivalent) would allow you to use any shutter speed you desire. I have noticed many portraits shot in the harsh sun of India (from many different photographers) that would have benefited from fill flash. I always carry one or two flashes with me when I travel
Selecting the subject in PS and opening up the shadows a bit might also work but, I suspect not as well as fill flash for this particular image...

2. The main subject is somewhat blurred. I suspect that this is due to subject motion since there are parts of the image (brick in lower frame center and worker in striped shirt image right) that are in focus both in front and to the rear of the subject - ruling out DOF problems.

One other thing that I noticed, you seem to have caught the main subject in the midst of an action. Perhaps if you had shot a tad earlier while she was waiting (like you caught the worker in the striped shirt) or if you had shot a tad later as she was bending down for the load, the image might have been more impactful...

[NorthernFocus]

Hi, Tejal. This image is not nearly as dramatic as the others you've shared of this location. I agree with prior comments on pulling more detail out of the shadowed portion of the face on the main subject. Also IMO the composition just doesn't feel right with the more distant person at extreme right of frame. It just feels awkward. This is not my genre of photography so I speak purely as a viewer of the image.

[Tejal]

Although there are some technical issues about the image as they have already been mentioned, it is a good image as a part of your 'team work' set

Thanks Binnur. .

[Tejal]

Nice image showing a facet of a very hard life as a laborer...

I noticed the same things as were mentioned before.

1. The intense shadow on the backlit main subject. If I were shooting in India, or anywhere in which the sun is very bright and harsh combined with the subjects generally being of a darker skin shade, I would definitely use fill flash. Using fill flash would open up the shadows covering the main subject. Shooting with high speed sync (or the Nikon equivalent) would allow you to use any shutter speed you desire. I have noticed many portraits shot in the harsh sun of India (from many different photographers) that would have benefited from fill flash. I always carry one or two flashes with me when I travel
Selecting the subject in PS and opening up the shadows a bit might also work but, I suspect not as well as fill flash for this particular image...

2. The main subject is somewhat blurred. I suspect that this is due to subject motion since there are parts of the image (brick in lower frame center and worker in striped shirt image right) that are in focus both in front and to the rear of the subject - ruling out DOF problems.

One other thing that I noticed, you seem to have caught the main subject in the midst of an action. Perhaps if you had shot a tad earlier while she was waiting (like you caught the worker in the striped shirt) or if you had shot a tad later as she was bending down for the load, the image might have been more impactful...

Thanks a lot for your valuable suggestions.

[Tejal]

Hi, Tejal. This image is not nearly as dramatic as the others you've shared of this location. I agree with prior comments on pulling more detail out of the shadowed portion of the face on the main subject. Also IMO the composition just doesn't feel right with the more distant person at extreme right of frame. It just feels awkward. This is not my genre of photography so I speak purely as a viewer of the image.

Thank you very much for your feedback.

[thegman]

Lovely image, good vibrant colours. Personally I feel the main subject and the lady on the rights side are competing as main subject.

[Tejal]

Lovely image, good vibrant colours. Personally I feel the main subject and the lady on the rights side are competing as main subject.

Thanks Gerry for your feedback.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi again Tejal,

Firstly; my apologies for taking so long to reply to your request:

~ I would love to know how to how you identify the CA. I will be highly obliged, if you share it.

I took three 100% crops from the edges of your shot - because lateral CA is always worse the further we view from the centre of the lens. This tells us all where to look; at the edges of frame. Normally in the corners - IF there is anything suitable there to see it - which there isn't in this particular shot, so the edges it is.

What to look for?
a) Brightly coloured fringes where image content changes from light to dark, or dark to light (I'll call these 'transitions').
b) These coloured fringes are usually loosely described as Purple/Green (or Red/Cyan), but I have also experienced Yellow/Blue with some lenses (I think my old Bridge camera did this).
c) The main thing that is diagnostic of lateral CA is that the coloured fringes occur in a predictable way with respect to the centre of the lens on those 'transitions';
c1) The fringes will be 'opposite' on left vs right and top vs bottom of the frame
c2) The fringes will also be 'opposite' either side of a dark are against a light background (or vice versa)
c3) Most easily visible on high contrast edges

e.g. from left hand, right hand and bottom centre, edges of your shot:

My mistake that I didn't zoom the image and check it.

I find I don't usually need to check it, because I have the appropriate box checked (and Saved as an ACR default), so I know the CA correction is automatically applied to every shot I process. The automatic option usually does a 'good enough' job - although I found on your shot, I could improve on that manually.

ACR 'automatic' CA correction:


No CA correction (your original shot for comparison in LyteBox between the other two):


ACR manually applied CA correction:



I put quite a bit of effort in to this reply, but learnt a lot myself in the process.

First off, I reviewed 3 different YouTube tutorials on correcting CA - none was perfect, but I learnt something extra from each. Seeing the controls work in real time on an example image is very instructive - although in some parts, my testing with your image did not behave as shown in the video, perhaps because it was a jpg.

UPDATE

YouTube links I researched:
Steve Perry = 8 minutes 2 seconds
Steve here suggests doing it with Layers in PS, not what I was really looking for, so I tried a couple of others using the ACR method.

Klaus Herrmann = 18 mins, 36 seconds.
I probably learnt most from this one, but (for me) he's a bit slow in places.

Blake Rudis f64 academy = 4 mins, 12 seconds.
There's a very useful tip in this one (Ctrl+click to correct), although bizarrely, when I tried it on Tejal's jpg, it thought what was obviously visually a purple/red fringe was in the Green domain.


In Photoshop CC ACR - where to find the relevant controls:

'Lens' tab and 'Color' sub-tab.

In Photoshop CC ACR - with default settings only:


There is no 'manual' contribution above because the two Amount controls are zero.

In Photoshop CC ACR - this is how the controls ended up to best fix Tejal's jpg - although I finally settled on 3 for the Purple Amount, to avoid problem artefacts in the banded dress in foreground:


Note that when using the manual controls, the checkbox should be unchecked, if you don't do this, it is far harder to see what effect our manual adjustments of the Amount and Hue controls are doing because the automatic values are also contributing to the effect on screen.

Be gentle with the manual controls, low amounts are usually sufficient and as I discovered in your shot, too high an Amount causes unwanted issues at the edges of legitimately bold coloured areas; such as the dress in foreground.

Cheers, Dave

[Tejal]

Hi again Tejal,

Firstly; my apologies for taking so long to reply to your request:

I took three 100% crops from the edges of your shot - because lateral CA is always worse the further we view from the centre of the lens. This tells us all where to look; at the edges of frame. Normally in the corners - IF there is anything suitable there to see it - which there isn't in this particular shot, so the edges it is.

What to look for?
a) Brightly coloured fringes where image content changes from light to dark, or dark to light (I'll call these 'transitions').
b) These coloured fringes are usually loosely described as Purple/Green (or Red/Cyan), but I have also experienced Yellow/Blue with some lenses (I think my old Bridge camera did this).
c) The main thing that is diagnostic of lateral CA is that the coloured fringes occur in a predictable way with respect to the centre of the lens on those 'transitions';
c1) The fringes will be 'opposite' on left vs right and top vs bottom of the frame
c2) The fringes will also be 'opposite' either side of a dark are against a light background (or vice versa)
c3) Most easily visible on high contrast edges

Oh..... thanks a million, something which I never knew, I came to know about.

Many many thanks once again .

[RList]

CA, blur or whatever is completely irrelevant. As I said the other day, good photo is a good photo. There is a saying, the charm is in imperfections.