A Lady Getting Ready, 11.24.2016

José Angel Santana

José Angel Santana

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Thanks again, Martin for deleting the other version of this picture, as per my request. I've learned a great deal from working on this picture, as it contains most all of the traps that I can so easily fall into: a person, in a busy somewhat chaotic place, with some interesting elements, others not so much - what to do with all of it...bad lighting! I'm finding that if I can do most everything with global adjustments, that's the way to go for me. When I start making local adjustments, I tend to fail at that by accentuating certain elements that then draw attention and ruining the picture. I don't know, it's all a learning experience. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

_B250091_5.jpg

Olympus EM-10 II
OLYMPUS M.17mm, F2.0, 1/20, ISO 640
 
Compared with many of your other images that I have enjoyed I am sorry but I find this dull, cluttered and uninteresting.

Norman
 
this has a lot of interesting elements but also a lot of distracting elements, lots of textures, the question of narrative etc. What it doesn't have is good lighting and there's nowt you can do about that without making it very obvious.
crop away the sofa and you have a pic of someone doing their face up in aiPhone (or similar) and flashing a bit of stocking. I tried cropping it various ways and came to the conclusion that the only bit of interest really was the stockings but short of cropping tight and creating an abstract I'm afraid this is one for the bin
;)
 
Norman said:
Compared with many of your other images that I have enjoyed I am sorry but I find this dull, cluttered and uninteresting.
Click to expand...

Thank you Norman, for looking and giving me your honest feedback. This is why I like it here so much! As I've said recently, you ALWAYS help me "think." After reading and agreeing with your feedback. I thought, "Ah, and yes, this is part of the point of the picture, the "story" if you will, a woman getting ready amidst all this 'clutter.' That is why I took the picture. So, then how to I keep the clutter yet make it more pleasing and less distracting to the eye?" As I mentioned in the original post, this is the "problem" I'm always trying to solve with most of my pictures. And as Simon, who echos and elaborates on most of what you are saying, and writes:

Digital Finger said:
What it doesn't have is good lighting and there's nowt you can do about that without making it very obvious.
Click to expand...

The lighting is a HUGE problem. And, "since I am not all that good at using light anyway, what do I do about all this?"

Thanks for looking, commenting and playing with the picture Simon! Yes, I agree, it's a a big challenge. I don't know how it's going to look here,
but this is what I did, after reading Norman's comment:

_B250091_7.jpg

Live and learn.

Thanks Simon & Norman!
 
I agree the second version has more punch, I thought about a square crop, cropping just past the white cushion by the womans rear, then just short of the hand bags on the sofa, and maybe a touch off the top, but this would take a bit off the cup on the table, so maybe it wouldnt work, just a thought o_O

Tim
 
Thanks for letting me know Simon!

(as i'm writing this Tim replied)

Thanks for looking and suggesting Tim. I'll try that! Thanks! :)
 
José, have you noticed that you have introduced what looks like a halo where the edges of the settee meet the wall otherwise you have made some improvement?

I am not much of judge of portraits, I have rarely ventured into that field of photography. We could do with a section on portraiture and some photographers to contribute to it.

Norman
 
Norman said:
you have introduced what looks like a halo where the edges of the settee meet the wall
Click to expand...
Yes, Norman! I did notice that and have been trying to figure out with all of my Smart Object/Adjustment layers, how to fix it. I've been at it for the last 30min or so. I was hearing your voice in my head, "I regret to inform you, Jose, that I see halos now . . ." exactly where you point them out to me. I don't like them at all. Thanks! And, these changes are due to your initial feedback. As, it's the "story" of a woman getting ready to leave amidst the mess that she's sitting in. So, thanks again for making your comments that had me thinking about how to keep the mess without it being a distraction. Thank you, Norman!

barnabyT said:
cropping just past the white cushion by the womans rear, then just short of the hand bags on the sofa, and maybe a touch off the top
Click to expand...

Here it is Tim: B250091_8a.jpg

I like the exercise a lot, but the thing is that I actually made the picture to be about the mess she's sitting in, that with the stocking make for a bit of a "hot mess" of a Mona Lisa, thing.

I really do need to deal with the halos that Norman is pointing out. (Boy do I have questions about how Smart Object/Adjustment Layers work. If I do a "vignette" on an upper layer, it seems to totally cancel out anything that I'd done below it! Thoughts?)

I'm glad to be with you all again, after my computer got fixed and this mind numbing election of our is over.

Thanks for looking and the feedback guys!
Jose
 
Halos are very easy to deal with, I am sure there is a video by Ian or Martin on how to do this.

Out of curiosity is she holding a smart phone and using it as a mirror?

Norman
 
Norman said:
Halos are very easy to deal with, I am sure there is a video by Ian or Martin on how to do this.

Out of curiosity is she holding a smart phone and using it as a mirror?
Click to expand...

Hi, Norman. Ordinarily I've found dealing with halos easy to remove as well. However, these are caused due to some Smart Object/Adjustment layer vodoo, that I'll have so spend my time figuring out first how they got there and then how to remove.

And yes, although there is a mirror right in front of her, she is using the smartphone as a mirror.

Jose
 
I agree about the crop, it does cut out a lot of the clutter, which is as you say ,part of the overall image, always worth a try though :)

Tim
 
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