Rural life, Nepal, South Asia. C&C please. BW

Post-processing:
BW conversion and sharpening in PS CS3.

Taken in: Nowarkot, Northeast of Nepal.

A remote area where income is mainly based on agriculture. People walk for miles, up and down hills, with heavy loads on their backs, as part of their daily work routine (due to absence of proper roads and/or wealth to afford other means of transport).

Camera: Canon PowerShot S5 IS.
ISO 200 | F/3.5 | 1/1600

Comments and criticism welcome.

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You have a halo/strip around the figure.
That shows up when you push the envelope a little to much.

Try starting over and be more subtle with your corrections.

Do like the composition.

Thank you for the comment. Will start over

yeah, i think this could be a really strong photo with some different processing. the halo really stands out after you notice it as chauncy said. the clothes also look a bit too dark.

otherwise, good composition, good subject, etc . . .

ryan

RAPhotography wrote in post #6431863
yeah, i think this could be a really strong photo with some different processing. good composition, good subject, etc . . .

ryan

Thank you very much. I must agree, I was sloppy on the processing. Did notice the halo due to sharpening at the end of my processing. It is more obvious on the reduced image size, present on the original too, and hence needs correction. Thought I would post this here, get additional comments on improvements and then get back to the processing and correcting the flaws.

Thanks again.

I really like this shot, perfectly shot. With a little rework on the pp it'll be great.

nbaer89 wrote in post #6434193
I really like this shot, perfectly shot. With a little rework on the pp it'll be great.

Thanks a lot! Much appreciated

There are two problems with this shot.
1) the halo around the figure looks like the figure was lifted out of one picture and then overlayed onto a different background. Maybe it was actually just a trick of the lighting, but that is what it looks like.

2) The other problem is that the figure looks like it was burned in separately. That is, it looks like the overall picture was overexposed and the figure alone was rescued by selectively burning it in.

We actually can only guess whether this problem is just a trick of the ambient lighting or some post processing gone astray.

Were it not for the above problems, the scene is very interesting and the composition is quite good. One could say that the figure is well set apart from the background and gives a sense of 3-dimensionality. However, the artifacts from post processing would seem to give it away.

This was a hard one to edit, well.... at least for me...

I'm proud of the composition and the overall meaning the shot has within it.

I'm starting to think that maybe this image isn't meant to be converted to b&w... However, something still tells me that this picture would show more depth as a black and white ... Comments? Edits?

Mr Lay, Thank you very much for the detailed comment. I'm learning so much.
Much appreciated.

-Reef

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^^ original

In my opinion, this picture's 3-dimensionality is primarily the result of the marked change in contrast between the foreground/middlegroun​d and the mountainous background.

The decreased contrast in the background is due to the haze, which is probably due to impurities in the air that naturally arise over a forest in the heat of the day.

A second contributor to 3-dimensionality (depth) is the shape and direction of the pathway and the position of the woman on that pathway, which is all related to the geometry of the path in the foreground/middlegroun​d.

The haze and the resulting loss of contrast in the background is quite noticeable when compared with the high contrast coloring of the man, so you unconsciously recognize that the background is far away, because you recognize the significant loss of contrast.

In the B & W version you don't recognize the background as being hazy. It is hazy, but you just don't recognize it as hazy - so the feeling of depth just isn't as pronounced.

I prefer the colour version. Looks very Nat.Geo.

Try getting a front-facing one next time.

Yep... second that one... color/colour version is to my liking better as well. Spend some time getting the colors on that right, and you have a keeper.

Thanks guys!

sando wrote in post #6478383
I prefer the colour version. Looks very Nat.Geo.

Agree 100%, nice work!

Dave