Gran And Grandson

[Overbeyond]

Still ploughing through all the shots from my Autumn travels.
Here's one for critique.
Tom

[Martin]

Very nice shor... Just Great...

[deliriumsfrogs]

I absolutely LOVE this!! What facial expressions you captured!! Perfect exposure, too. I think this is my favourite I've seen on this forum... thank you so much for sharing!

[Greg McCary]

Nice picture Tom, Well done...
Greg

[gahspidy]

Tom, this is just lovely. The exposure and lighting, the setting and all is really working to make a captivating picture. great work!

[Seb]

Still ploughing through all the shots from my Autumn travels.
Here's one for critique.
Tom

If I had to be picky I'd point out that the brightness of the upper right corner draws away some attention but beside that issue, this is definitely a brilliant photograph. You captured something special here, these people are lively.

Seb

[yogestee]

Tom,,,I have to agree with Seb here...The top right hand corner is a bit blown out..Otherwise nice environmental portrait..Where was it taken??First glance Myanmar..

Jurgen

[Overbeyond]

Thanks so much to all of you for your comments.
At the time of taking I was aware that the top corner was always going to be a threat to the overall result. Processing was indeed in this area, where I subdued the light somewhat and added an extra bit of foliage as a camouflage if you like. But it is still a pity it is there.
I thought I just about got away with it. To me the picture is about the little boys expression; I feel it is the photographs strength and it always stopped my eyes from going elsewhere. I think he is adorable and I often come back to this one just to see that expression again.
It happened in a little village called Upper Langde in the province of Guizhou in south western China. My daughter and I were backpacking through the rice fields and we just arrived at this little place and we were invited into this family's house, where we spent an afternoon, for refreshments and food.
Tom

[molaselake]

This is a beautiful photograph. There's really nothing I can add that hasn't already been said. I agree with Seb and Yogestee on the bright spot, though. But, that's probably easily fixed in photoshop if you choose to do so. Either way, it's still awesome

[Overbeyond]

This is a beautiful photograph. There's really nothing I can add that hasn't already been said. I agree with Seb and Yogestee on the bright spot, though. But, that's probably easily fixed in photoshop if you choose to do so. Either way, it's still awesome

Thanks so much Liz
I had already done some work on the bright area as outlined in my last post. I would be happy to receive your advice on other ways to improve it.
Tom

[yogestee]

It happened in a little village called Upper Langde in the province of Guizhou in south western China. My daughter and I were backpacking through the rice fields and we just arrived at this little place and we were invited into this family's house, where we spent an afternoon, for refreshments and food.
Tom

Tom,,,its a wonderful experience to get out of the major cities and towns and enjoy the hospitality these folk have to offer,,,their cultures are so pure and untainted...With what little they have they are willing to share with anyone from the outside world just to hear news from the outside world..I had similar experiences whilst tripping around Indochina in '04 and '05..
Tom did you notice how lovely the light is in Asia??What I found one rarely has days with harsh sunlight and brilliant blue skies we have here in Australia..Usually there is some kind of cloud,mist cover or heat haze especially in the wet season which makes for wonderful photography..

Nice work..

Jurgen

[Ronnoco]

Change the bright white in the corner to a natural sky blue and you have solved the distracting brightness problem.

Ronnoco

[yogestee]

Change the bright white in the corner to a natural sky blue and you have solved the distracting brightness problem.

Ronnoco

How do we know that day was a "natural blue sky"??

Jurgen

[Overbeyond]

The light indeed Jurgen. And I found it got more interesting the further west towards the Tibetan border we got.Wonderful clouds too.
I have never in my life experienced such hospitality and sincere friendliness as I did in south western china. and I intend getting back for a third time before not to long.

I would like to improve on the white area of the photograpg but I do not wish to plant a new sky there.
Many Thanks
Tom

[Ronnoco]

I would like to improve on the white area of the photograpg but I do not wish to plant a new sky there.
Many Thanks
Tom

Well your options are severely limited to the point of forget about the white area entirely or plant something else there. I noticed that Jurgen did not mention a third option.

Ronnoco

[gahspidy]

Tom, I had a very nice result by creating a duplicate layer and setting the layer property to "difference" at 25% opacity. Then I erased the effect off everything except the sky area with an eraser brush set at about 60%. Then I further erased the effect from the two subjects at 100% so that they stood out even stronger. Took about 5 minutes.

[CLKunst]

Congratulations on the sticky Tom! Very well deserved IMO. I think this image is beautiful and I have so enjoyed watching it bubble at the surface all week long.
Cheers!

[yogestee]

Three cheers for your sticky Tom...Great travel portrait..

Jurgen

[Overbeyond]

I'm touched; thank you to the powers that be for choosing my photo for featured shot.
Gary thanks for the information on how you treated the bright area; better by far than anything I would ever have come up with. I have saved your ideas for future reference.

Cl; Thank you for your kind and supportive words.
Jurgen; many thanks to you also.

Tom

[michael buchanan]

excellent photograph with perfect exposure and incredible balance!! awesome!!

[Overbeyond]

excellent photograph with perfect exposure and incredible balance!! awesome!!

Many thanks Michael.
Tom

[Martin]

Very nice shot... Just Great...

:thumbsup:

[Overbeyond]

Thanks again Martin.
Tom