2 women

lizzard_nyc

damonff

Rutt will like these tones. They are perfect.

michswiss

The tones might be nice, but I feel the shot itself is indifferent.

Nyarthlopic

Sorry Liz, but I gotta go with Michswiss on this one. The shot for me is just kind of there. One of the rare instances where you weren't able to pull me in.

lizzard_nyc

damonff wrote: »

Rutt will like these tones. They are perfect.

Thanks Damon,
Since Rutt's last post to my thread I did work on this one to try and improve the conversion. I did fight the urge for more contrast.

lizzard_nyc

Nyarthlopic wrote: »

Sorry Liz, but I gotta go with Michswiss on this one. The shot for me is just kind of there. One of the rare instances where you weren't able to pull me in.

I liked the look going on between the two ladies--but I was too far away for starters.


Thanks Michswiss and Nyarthlopic--sometimes you just miss.

Flyinggina

This may be a "quiet" picture and not a show stopper, but I too like the look between the two women that you captured. There is ambiguity there. I understand why you took it.

Virginia

bdcolen

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

Well, time to disagree with pretty much everyone. IF Rutt likes this post processing, I have to disagree with him -despite noting that he is THE master here in terms of expertise in this area. But the big problem with this image is not what was captured, but that it is flatter than a piece of paper. I also think it could do with a slight crop, and a little sharpening. I'm not saying these adjustments are perfect, but I think they definitely improve what you've got - and what you've got, and is now more obvious, is a very nice little street scene, the ladies of the morning, complete with the location spelled out behind their heads. Will this make it to the MOMA? No. But is it a good image - yes.

Picture 3.jpg

Flyinggina

bdcolen wrote: »

Well, time to disagree with pretty much everyone. IF Rutt likes this post processing, I have to disagree with him -despite noting that he is THE master here in terms of expertise in this area. But the big problem with this image is not what was captured, but that it is flatter than a piece of paper. I also think it could do with a slight crop, and a little sharpening. I'm not saying these adjustments are perfect, but I think they definitely improve what you've got - and what you've got, and is now more obvious, is a very nice little street scene, the ladies of the morning, complete with the location spelled out behind their heads. Will this make it to the MOMA? No. But is it a good image - yes.

Picture 3.jpg

Yes.

rainbow

There is something to the exchange between the two. Similar to your husband and brother-in-law. There is a history between them that is captured here. And I would crop even more off the right, maybe going for a vertical orientation on the shot.

And you definitely need to up the contrast...

Seefutlung

BD beat me to the comments by two posters. I also thought a touch of contrast would improve the shot. I really like the shoot, while it may not have the impact to stand alone ... it would certainly contribute to a series. I think it is mother and daughter.

Gary

colourbox

What I got is that the women are interesting, but they are totally shouted down by the contrast. What I mean is that yes, there is a contrast issue, the thing is the eye is naturally drawn to contrast but the big problem is all the contrast is in the background. Contrast is flipped around in this pic. The women themselves have low "background contrast" and the background has extreme, almost black and white "subject contrast." So the eye wants to go to the background. And the highest-contrast area, the area drawing the eye the most, is RENATO CONSTRUCTION and where you can find them. It's like yeah, you can bump up the contrast of the women, but if the background contrast is not prevented from also going up even higher (which it did in the retouched versions), the background still wins...

If I had shot this I would have a hard time deciding what to do, I like the women but would be thinking about how much further the image can be carried forward since the women have no chance against that high-contrast background that would be difficult to tame without serious and possibly fake-looking post-processing.

Actually I have this problem all the time and it's making me try to work harder to watch my backgrounds, try to remember to stand in a place where the background is simpler, blur it out in camera, etc. but it sure can be hard with a quick reactionary shot on the street!

lizzard_nyc

bdcolen wrote: »

Well, time to disagree with pretty much everyone. IF Rutt likes this post processing, I have to disagree with him -despite noting that he is THE master here in terms of expertise in this area. But the big problem with this image is not what was captured, but that it is flatter than a piece of paper. I also think it could do with a slight crop, and a little sharpening. I'm not saying these adjustments are perfect, but I think they definitely improve what you've got - and what you've got, and is now more obvious, is a very nice little street scene, the ladies of the morning, complete with the location spelled out behind their heads. Will this make it to the MOMA? No. But is it a good image - yes.

Picture 3.jpg

MUCH BETTER!
Thank you B.D.
I really liked the interaction between the women but I wasn't feeling it either like Jenn and Nyarthlopic and co. --amazing what some juicy high contrast can do.

lizzard_nyc

Flyinggina wrote: »

This may be a "quiet" picture and not a show stopper, but I too like the look between the two women that you captured. There is ambiguity there. I understand why you took it.

Virginia

It does make me wonder about the relationship. I want to know more myself. Thanks Virginia.

lizzard_nyc

rainbow wrote: »

There is something to the exchange between the two. Similar to your husband and brother-in-law. There is a history between them that is captured here. And I would crop even more off the right, maybe going for a vertical orientation on the shot.

And you definitely need to up the contrast...

See what happens when I relax and go low contrast?
If it's anything like my husband and his brothers relationship then there is definately a story there.

Thanks Rainbow. I wanted to keep the pole on the right with the tagging, but it's not essential to the scene.

lizzard_nyc

Seefutlung wrote: »

BD beat me to the comments by two posters. I also thought a touch of contrast would improve the shot. I really like the shoot, while it may not have the impact to stand alone ... it would certainly contribute to a series. I think it is mother and daughter.

Gary

Hi Gary,
Funny you say mother daughter. I was thinking lady and home health aid--seriously. But I like the mother/daughter scenario more. IT's just that the older woman looks so condescending! but a mother can pull that same look too:)
B.d. fixed the contrast--and it is much better.

lizzard_nyc

colourbox wrote: »

What I got is that the women are interesting, but they are totally shouted down by the contrast. What I mean is that yes, there is a contrast issue, the thing is the eye is naturally drawn to contrast but the big problem is all the contrast is in the background. Contrast is flipped around in this pic. The women themselves have low "background contrast" and the background has extreme, almost black and white "subject contrast." So the eye wants to go to the background. And the highest-contrast area, the area drawing the eye the most, is RENATO CONSTRUCTION and where you can find them. It's like yeah, you can bump up the contrast of the women, but if the background contrast is not prevented from also going up even higher (which it did in the retouched versions), the background still wins...

If I had shot this I would have a hard time deciding what to do, I like the women but would be thinking about how much further the image can be carried forward since the women have no chance against that high-contrast background that would be difficult to tame without serious and possibly fake-looking post-processing.

Actually I have this problem all the time and it's making me try to work harder to watch my backgrounds, try to remember to stand in a place where the background is simpler, blur it out in camera, etc. but it sure can be hard with a quick reactionary shot on the street!

I pretty much shoot on the fly with very rare moments of being able to stand in one place for any length of time, so if I see a shot I like I have to go for it even with difficult lighting situations--My last two posts have had lighting issues and processing issues for that very reason, though I'm glad I got the shots, it makes me wish for better lighting or better positioning. Street is killer sometimes!

I am in good company.

Thank you.

Patti

I like it a lot Liz. This has got to be a mother/daughter moment. The older woman on the left has got that parental disciplinary look about it. If ever there was a look of disapproval... it is anything but ho hum. The conversion is very well done.