2 Portraits from China......1st post on DGrin!

IanZ28IanZ28 Registered Users Posts: 32 Big grins
edited May 28, 2005 in People
Hello all. I'm Ian (a regular at dpreview). I just had a wonderful adventure traveling in China. If any of you have a chance to visit the country I would deffinitely recommend it. The Chinese are going to take over the world someday.......

Critiques or Suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

first - the beauty.
I didnt run any actions on this young's womans face in order to preserve her natural beauty. I did adjust levels and lowered the highlights (on everything but her face). I also blurred out and darkened the people in the background a bit. I wanted to remove them.......but, it proved to difficult.

23029815-L.jpg

Now, the ummm..... Elderly woman.
This was taken on the great wall. Again left untouched - to preserve the wrinkles. Only mildly cropped and sharpened.

23031086-L.jpg


Believe it or not this old frisky lady tried to rip me off. I gave her around 6 bucks (50 RMB) for a water (which cost a dollar) and she tried to give me back 4 RMB (or around 50 cents).

Ian

p.s. Hello to all you STF'ers out there. I didnt even realize that smugmug had a forum. So far, I'm impressed! Both shots were taken with the sony V3.
http://www.iandebowphotography.com

Comments

  • windozewindoze Registered Users Posts: 2,830 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2005
    Hi Ian,

    always glad to see fellow STF member join up here.... I think after all that has happened over there lately, Dgrin should make a support group for them over here......
    Love the pics and your treatment seems perfect to me!
    Hope to see many more of your posts!


    troy ( windoze )
  • bfjrbfjr Registered Users Posts: 10,980 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2005
    Welcome thumb.gif
    Very nice 1st post
    Show us some more.
    Benjamin
    My Galleries
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  • lynnmalynnma Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 5,208 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2005
    Welcome Ian! wave.gif

    Both very nice in my opinion.. the young womans face is lovely and the old woman is a great portrait clap.gif
    website
  • Yuri PautovYuri Pautov Registered Users Posts: 1,918 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2005
    Like you portraits, Ian!
    The talent of future portraitist is seen through them very distinctly
    Nice to meet you here!
    Yuri
  • IanZ28IanZ28 Registered Users Posts: 32 Big grins
    edited May 26, 2005
    Thank you for the possitive feedback all!

    I thought there was definitely room for improvement.......But, I am very happy with the shots. I only took the 1 of each of them (I did blow a few others on the trip - always ask for 2 right?).

    Nice to see you here Windoze.

    And Yuri - thank you for the wonderful compliment. It means a lot coming from you.

    Ian
    http://www.iandebowphotography.com
  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2005
    Wow, those are excellent! Great lighting, super sharp, wonderful colors, great models. Super nice. Great to have you aboard! wave.gif
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • MuskyDudeMuskyDude Registered Users Posts: 1,508 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2005
    Hello Ian,


    Portraits are not in my realm of expertise but I really like how you shot these two, they are both stand-out shots to my eyes. thumb.gif

    Great to see you post here, I think you'll like it. And welcome! clap.gifclap.gif


    AJ
    http://northlight.smugmug.com/
  • johnojohno Registered Users Posts: 617 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2005
    welcome to DG... Great shots. My favorite is number two.

    peace.
    johno~
    If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
    ~Mother Teresa


    Canon 1D Mark II / Canon 50D / Canon 30D / Canon G9
    Canon 50mm 1.4
    Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS / Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L



    blog
    johno's gallery
  • USAIRUSAIR Registered Users Posts: 2,646 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2005
    Ian
    Welcome STF member (me too) glad to see you here
    Nice shots can't wait to see morethumb.gif

    Fred
    http://www.riverbendphotos.com/
    http://www.facebook.com/Riverbendphotos
  • AngeloAngelo Super Moderators Posts: 8,937 moderator
    edited May 26, 2005
    Hello Ian. Welcome to dGrin and thanks for sharing 2 beautiful portraits.
    www.angelo.smugmug.com

    Moderator of: Location, Location, Location , Mind Your Own Business & Other Cool Shots
  • ShimaShima Registered Users Posts: 2,547 Major grins
    edited May 27, 2005
    Nice pictures :)

    How do you like your Sony V3? I'm currently debating between that and a Canon G6...

    Love that you have a Japan gallery in you photo's, I'm a Japanese major-- been there once so far! :)
    Photography by Cat || My Gear List
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  • SusanBSusanB Registered Users Posts: 281 Major grins
    edited May 27, 2005
    Very well done. thumb.gifthumb.gif The contrast in subjects is most enjoyable to view. At first I thought that the older lady may have been intentionally trying to short change you, but then the thought occured to me that maybe she did not know how to charge you for taking her picture- just a possibility.

    Susan
  • IanZ28IanZ28 Registered Users Posts: 32 Big grins
    edited May 27, 2005
    Shima wrote:
    Nice pictures :)

    How do you like your Sony V3? I'm currently debating between that and a Canon G6...

    Love that you have a Japan gallery in you photo's, I'm a Japanese major-- been there once so far! :)
    Thanks for looking shima.........and I'm glad you liked my Japan Gallerie.

    I really like the V3 (but). Its a very capable and has a wide range of control. Where you should really be looking though is at the 717 or 828. Granted they are bigger.......but, the v3 I find just leaves a little to be desired. And the price difference isn't all that big. When I look through the galleries the images are simply much cleaner and sharper.

    I really want a dSLR though.

    Ian

    Hey Susan.....You might be right.....
    http://www.iandebowphotography.com
  • GREAPERGREAPER Registered Users Posts: 3,113 Major grins
    edited May 27, 2005
    Welcome Ian.

    Very nice photos, the young woman is stunning and well captured. As you mentioned, it would have been nice if the other people were not in the background, but I think you did a nice job of dealing with it. The elderly lady is superb as is.

    Thanks for sharing them.

    Brian
    http://dehmphoto.smugmug.com/

  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,948 moderator
    edited May 28, 2005
    Welcome!

    Two very nice portraits. The first is my favorite. Have you tried toning down
    the whites and maybe a little bump in the saturation? A tad more sat might
    compliment the dress more. But then there's the skin tone that might suffer.

    Ian
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
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