Deep in conversation

[RBSinTo]

This was taken a few years ago at Christmas time on Yonge Street in front of the Eaton Centre, a very large, high end shopping mall here in downtown Toronto.
Always incredibly busy, especially in the weeks leading up to Christmas, the mall and the streets around it are a target-rich environment for street photographers.
I was watching the sea of busy shoppers when I noticed a couple standing in the middle of the sidewalk, deep in conversation. They conversed for a few minutes before she went off with a group of friends or family to enter the mall.
What caught my eye was their position, at right angles to the flow of sidewalk traffic, which allowed me to see the two of them as they talked, and the woman's pose, as she stood with her head down, and her hands on the man's shoulders, as she waited for him to give her some spending money.
I watched them and when the moment seemed right, took this shot.
motorized Nikon F with meterless, eyelevel prism
Nikkor 180 2.8 ED AIS manual focus
Fuji 100 ISO colour slide
exposure about 2.8 @ 1/500th

[Shadowman]

Nice storytelling capture.

[Manfred M]

Interesting story, but the image is not working all that well for me.

I think some significant amount of dodging is required to bring out the faces of your two main subjects, especially the one on the right, given the dark background she is standing in front of. I find some detail is needed there.

[RBSinTo]

Interesting story, but the image is not working all that well for me.

I think some significant amount of dodging is required to bring out the faces of your two main subjects, especially the one on the right, given the dark background she is standing in front of. I find some detail is needed there.

Manfred,
Thanks for the critique.
I actually tried that when I first scanned the image, first by overall brightening of the shot, which didn't work, because I like the exposure on their clothing virtually everything else in the shot, and then by playing with the Dodging Tool on the woman's face.
The result had a muddy appearance which looked very artificial, so I undid it and just left it alone.
I think perhaps that my monitor at home is brighter than the one here at work, because at home there is enough detail in the faces, while here they are darker.
I think my problem with some of the post-processing is that my touch is not deft enough and the changes look obvious and so ruin the shots. so I take the "less is more" approach and do as little as possible.

[joebranko]

The image is beautiful. It captures the mood, the emotion of the scene. Maybe the faces could benefit from lightening, perhaps tweaking the shadows slider?