Culture - c & c are welcome

[Tejal]

I have tried to take a candid picture of this lady. Your C & C will be highly appreciated.

Thanks .

IMG_2448 by patel_tejal, on Flickr

[bnnrcn]

I like the image, the highlights in the BG are a bit distracting. IMO portrait shooters might be more helpful about the composition

[Tejal]

I like the image, the highlights in the BG are a bit distracting. IMO portrait shooters might be more helpful about the composition

Thanks for your feedback. Highlights in the BG I have tried to reduce little. I will again try reprocess the pic.

[rpcrowe]

IMO when shooting people, especially people who have fairly dark complexions, in bright contrasty sun, that often flash fill helps even out the exposure between the subject and the surrounding area and background. This is especially true when our subject is backlit.

I tried to brighten her face a bit, cropped the image into a vertical, applied a bit of vignette and a border. What do you think?



If I had been able to see more of the background, I might have left it in a landscape format as an environmental portrait...

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, a bit tight on the crop.

[Geoff F]

If you are able to shoot with flash then it should help; but of course that often isn't an option for quick shots. Or you don't want to use it at a particular location, or it might alarm the subject. In which case you simply have to go with what you have available.

Spot/partial metering on her face would be another alternative, but that would make the background even brighter.

The crop, to reduce the background area, is certainly the way to go with this scene.

[fotugraphy]

good shot. I really like the tight crop by Richard

[Manfred M]

This image has a few problems, the main one being the lighting. The shot looks rather back lit which means the subject's face is in shadow and has rather low contrast. Adding a fill light during shooting is going to save a lot of grief here. I understand that this is not easy to do in street photography, so perhaps this is a shot that might not be worth taking. When I do street photography, I will try to only shoot when the lighting is working, otherwise I will almost always not take the shot.

Being back-lit also results in another couple of issues. First of all our eyes are drawn to the brightest areas of the image, and when the background (even a nicely out of focus one) is bright, we will often look right past the subject and look at the background. The second issue is that this light does fool your camera's light meter as it tries to "force" the exposure to middle gray. This means the image, especially your subject is underexposed. Normally I try to correct this by using exposure compensation when I take the shot.

Another issue with this image is the vast amount of background material that does not add anything to the shot; so why are you including it? Crop it out.

I would also suggest shooting with a longer focal length. If you look at how large your subject's hand is when compared to her head, you'll see what I mean. A longer focal length (in this case likely over 100mm) will tend to flatten things out and decrease the distortion because you would be shooting from further away.

I think my edit is much like Richard's. Fix the exposure and contrast, change the crop (and format) and apply a heavy duty vignette to tone down the bright areas of the background. Certainly not as good as had this work gone into setting the exposure and framing the shot...

[DEAN01]

Tejal,
I like this shot; however, I agree with Richard and Manfred about the crop, using fill flash and a slightly longer lens to help with distortion. That being said, I know that all shots cannot be perfect and we must capture life as it happens. Good work.

[rpcrowe]

Looking back on this image and reading the entries following my crop, I noticed something that I did not notice on the first viewing. I always felt that the woman's face is a bit soft. However, looking at Manfred's crop, I realized that her hand is very sharp. It seems that the focus was on the hand, not on the woman's eyes or face. Often the camera, when it is asked to automatically select the focus point, will select a point closest to the lens which was, in this case, the woman's hand...

[Tejal]

IMO when shooting people, especially people who have fairly dark complexions, in bright contrasty sun, that often flash fill helps even out the exposure between the subject and the surrounding area and background. This is especially true when our subject is backlit.

I tried to brighten her face a bit, cropped the image into a vertical, applied a bit of vignette and a border. What do you think?



If I had been able to see more of the background, I might have left it in a mandscape format as an environmental portrait...

This is awesome Richard !! Actually no technical aspects I could thought at that time, except the light coming from front. ... I was not prepared for this shot. Using flash is a good idea in such condition...I really never thought of. thanks a lot.

[Tejal]

Nicely done, a bit tight on the crop.

thanks John !! Yes, here cropping also needs to be thought again.

[Tejal]

If you are able to shoot with flash then it should help; but of course that often isn't an option for quick shots. Or you don't want to use it at a particular location, or it might alarm the subject. In which case you simply have to go with what you have available.

Spot/partial metering on her face would be another alternative, but that would make the background even brighter.

The crop, to reduce the background area, is certainly the way to go with this scene.

Thanks for your feedback. Yes cropped version is looking better . I will try to get better shot next time.

[bnnrcn]

Hi again Tejal, as far as I understand from the comments , because you usually take quick shots in street photography , you need to improve your PP skills a bit . If you shot in a studio with a model may be you wouldn't need PP at all , but for street photography I think you will always need some PP work for your shots. I think India is a very good place for street photography, I would also suggest that you should buy a long lens if you are really into street photography, because each lens has its own function in photography . Manfred mentioned how useful a long lens is in his comment above. In addition to his comment , the people are less disturbed when you shoot with a long lens because you won't be very close to them

India is such a nice place to see. I would like to see more of your shots about India

[Tejal]

This image has a few problems, the main one being the lighting. The shot looks rather back lit which means the subject's face is in shadow and has rather low contrast. Adding a fill light during shooting is going to save a lot of grief here. I understand that this is not easy to do in street photography, so perhaps this is a shot that might not be worth taking. When I do street photography, I will try to only shoot when the lighting is working, otherwise I will almost always not take the shot.

Being back-lit also results in another couple of issues. First of all our eyes are drawn to the brightest areas of the image, and when the background (even a nicely out of focus one) is bright, we will often look right past the subject and look at the background. The second issue is that this light does fool your camera's light meter as it tries to "force" the exposure to middle gray. This means the image, especially your subject is underexposed. Normally I try to correct this by using exposure compensation when I take the shot.

Another issue with this image is the vast amount of background material that does not add anything to the shot; so why are you including it? Crop it out.

I would also suggest shooting with a longer focal length. If you look at how large your subject's hand is when compared to her head, you'll see what I mean. A longer focal length (in this case likely over 100mm) will tend to flatten things out and decrease the distortion because you would be shooting from further away.

I think my edit is much like Richard's. Fix the exposure and contrast, change the crop (and format) and apply a heavy duty vignette to tone down the bright areas of the background. Certainly not as good as had this work gone into setting the exposure and framing the shot...

Thanks for your valuable inputs.The picture was taken at 70 mm, with 55-250 lens. I will surely try my best to capture better one next time.

[Tejal]

Tejal,
I like this shot; however, I agree with Richard and Manfred about the crop, using fill flash and a slightly longer lens to help with distortion. That being said, I know that all shots cannot be perfect and we must capture life as it happens. Good work.

Thanks Dean . Yes revised crop is really looking better.

[Tejal]

Looking back on this image and reading the entries following my crop, I noticed something that I did not notice on the first viewing. I always felt that the woman's face is a bit soft. However, looking at Manfred's crop, I realized that her hand is vary sharp. It seems that the focus was on the hand, not on the woman's eyes or face. Often the camera, when it is asked to automatically select the focus point, will select a point closest to the lens which was, in this case, the woman's hand...

I will take care of all the valuable inputs for a better shot next time. thanks once again

[Tejal]

Hi again Tejal, as far as I understand from the comments , because you usually take quick shots in street photography , you need to improve your PP skills a bit . If you shot in a studio with a model may be you wouldn't need PP at all , but for street photography I think you will always need some PP work for your shots. I think India is a very good place for street photography, I would also suggest that you should buy a long lens if you are really into street photography, because each lens has its own function in photography . Manfred mentioned how useful a long lens is in his comment above. In addition to his comment , the people are less disturbed when you shoot with a long lens because you won't be very close to them

India is such a nice place to see. I would like to see more of your shots about India

Hi Binnur !! Good to see your feedback . I really need to work more on my post processing skill. Yes, my most of the shots are candid shots, mostly taken on streets and I always try that subject doesnt notice me. This picture was also taken with 55-250 lens but I will little close to the subject. It is taken at 70 mm.

India is beautiful and sure, i would enjoy sharing my pictures shot in India.

[JamesScott86]

Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous

[rpcrowe]

I usually have my "people" camera wearing a hotshoe flash. The flash will even out the exposure somewhat between the subject and the background. It will also open shadows around the eyes and very possibly provide catchlights in those eyes.

I also like to use a longer lens for people photography/ Your 55-250mm lens should be perfectly adequate. The longer lens will blur the background which will help to isolate your subjects from that background.

However, if you want to do an environmental portrait with a shorter lens flash can be a very important facet. I shot this knife sharpener in China using a 35mm focal length on a Canon 30D. He was casting a shadow over his grinder and the cleaver he was sharpening. The flash opened up that shadow...




OTOH, when shooting in an overcast environment without harsh shadows and without a bright background, the flash is not necessary as in this image of a street musician in Xi'an China.



What is necessary, IMO, is to have the face and eyes in focus - even when the eyes are closed as in the case of the musician...