Portrait: Woman and her snow cone

[Mike Buckley]

I have posted a couple other threads of photos captured while photographing a charity event of 5K and 10K races this weekend. I only spent a little time making photos of individuals milling around before and after the races, so I was very fortunate to grab this one.

The woman was nice enough to pose for me as she was enjoying her snow cone (crushed ice flavored with syrup). She became more interested in what I was doing than the snow cone, so she looked at me and started talking. Moving lips usually work against me, but this time they worked out just fine. Notice that the beige and rose colors of the syrup complement her hair and lips, respectively -- another bit of good luck.

I used a 35mm lens on a camera with a 1.5 crop factor. The photo is not cropped per se though a small crop resulted when I had to straighten it during post-processing.

[Shadowman]

the title of the thread made me smile even before I opened the image, I wasn't disappointed. Very nice.

[John 2]

Nice capture and nice that she was so cooperative.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to John and John. Do we have a few more people named John who also care to comment?

[ANSORB]

As you can see, I qualify

I like close up shots like this. It may sound a bit picky to say this but there is a mild greeny-blue cast and it is draining some of the colour from her face. (Look at the white bar in the background and thewhite strip of her clothing. Better still, check them with the colour picker if you have one). In the reworked image below I corrected the cast and used a channel blend to get the face a darker and more detailed. All faces are red and the main difference between caucasians and darker races is tthat the latter have proportionatley more yellow. At least, that is how it works in Photoshop.

I hope you don't mind the liberties I have taken. I am not an expert and I am concious of the variablity of monitors so something which looks OK on mine might look rather different on yours.

[JPS]

Me too. Great shot.
Regards
John

[Brownbear]

Beautiful image of a beautiful woman. I love the composition and lighthearted feeling, and I'm hoping you will share more people shots.

[Mike Buckley]

Christina's comment doesn't count unless she advises us that she has already sent the official paperwork to the bureaucrats to legally change her name to John.

Seriously, Christina, thank you for your comments. The other people shots weren't nearly as creative or as pleasing as this one because of the shot list I was fulfilling and the conditions during the shoot.

John (Ansorb): Thank you for taking the time to offer a different rendition and to explain your thinking. However, your version is way too warm for my taste on my calibrated monitor. You chose to make the woman's face darker and more detailed, whereas that's not consistent to my way of thinking with the characteristics of the diffuse light. As a result, that aspect appears overly cooked to me.

[FootLoose]

Great shot, Mike. I love these kind of candid fun shots (even if it was posed). I can see John's point about the colour cast, if that is what it is: the colour does seem a little washed out/flat around the eye level. But his reworking of it is definitely overcooked (on my monitor): it now has a distinct yellow cast and the woman's eyes appear jaundiced.

[Qualifications for commenting in this thread: a once knew a bloke called Jack]

[Mike Buckley]

Not to worry about being qualified to post in the thread, Greg. I have loosened the requirement to allow any 4-letter name, not just John. Notice that that little tweak also allows me to post here.

Seriously, thanks for your comments!

[Digital]

Not to worry about being qualified to post in the thread, Greg. I have loosened the requirement to allow any 4-letter name, not just John. Notice that that little tweak also allows me to post here.

Seriously, thanks for your comments!

I have five letters to my name hence I do not qualify to comment.

Bruce

[Mike Buckley]

You have every right to be mad, Bruce. I hereby declare by the authority vested in me as the OP that all people of all names are qualified to comment. Where did all these people named John come from anyhow?

[GeorgeM]

I like the original more than the rework. A very nice shot!

[terrib]

Whew, I'm glad I came late to the party so I am allowed to comment!

I really like the shot mike. I like the composition and the reminder that you don't have to include a person's entire head to make a good photo. It does seem like there is a green cast. Maybe somewhere in between the two?

[Plumcrak]

I am a little late to the party but I think this is a great capture also.

Cheers

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Terri and Jon.

Better?...

[ANSORB]

Mike - I have just spent most of the afternoon writing a response to your comments on my version of your photo. I hit the wrong button and lost it. Urrgh!

So here goes again, this time in reply to this your second version.

Yes, I do like this better. A lot better. The face looks to be somewhere between the original and my version but the background looks closer to the original with cast still visible. So I wonder if this one is a combination of the two, perhaps rather more of the original than mine and that is why the whites are still not neutral. I prefer it to my own and I hope I have analysed it correctly because creating an image a bit over the top and then combining it with the uncorrected version can be a very good way of getting a better result than just correcting to what you think is better - which is what I had done. So I would be more than just a little interested to know just what you did.

Many thanks for posting this

[Karm Redland]

Mike, your rework is great. For me, I was looking at the color of the background trees to judge the rest of the image. In your original, I thought they had to much of a Christmas green look. In John's edit they had too much of a mustard color look. In your second image they look correct.

karm

[Donald]

Mike, your rework is great.

My middle name is John. So, is that okay?

I agree with the comment. Great candid shot. Going in that close really makes it.

[Mito]

I prefer the rework. Nice one. My father's name was John, though he was also known as Jack. Double indemnity?