Tanzanian Street Vendors

C&Cs welcome.

Gb

You did a very good job with a very tough lighting situation, Jeff

Jeff - Thks. It probably would have been better to use a fill flash set at 1/2 or 1/4 intensity, but that takes time to set up.. It's hard to when these guys are right in your face 99% of the time. :) I guess everyone's trying to make a living......!

G

Their expressions don't work and I think you should crop a little tighter from the top as the blown out sky doesn't add a thing.

I agree on just a touch of fill flash would be nice.

Mb - What do you meant that their expressions don't work? I'm not sure what expressions would work and not work here.. They're obviously guys trying to sell things and make a living, so to me it's more of a documentary-type shot. I also don't see much at the top to crop - if that little bit there goes it would be like putting the poor guy in a box (he's already hunching down so his stance it would amplify that feeling).

GB

Crop.
Filter>sharpen (just once here, if you sharpen too much it creates little white spots called artifacts)
Image>Adjustments>Shadow/Highlight......}tweak{
Image>Adjustments>Brightness +3, contrast +11,..........}tweak for image needs{
Image>Adjustments>Hue /Saturation>Saturation +8 (or so, careful not to go crazy with it, turns into very colorful digital-doo-doo)
For the vignette (which is completely a personal preference, but it does help with some of the blown out sky, which in this type of shot is not that big an issue)
Select>select all
Select>modify>border--9px
Select>feather--26px
Then I just use a round brush with hard edges, and ink color set to black, I paint in around the edges, if you paint once it does this, if you go round more times, by letting off the mouse, and then re-click-dragging, it gets darker each time, depending on how dark you want it. You can also change the ammount that it comes in from the edges by changing the feather by number.

Thks for taking the time to edit it Zen. Unfortunately, it looks a little odd to me. I think there's only so far you can go in post processing and here the lightening of the shadows has created a weird color effect (too warm maybe) and a surreal look (not sure how to explain that, it just does). I think it's too tight up top but that's debatable. Also not sure the vignette works in this particular scene - those may be better in a glamor or related photo.

Like I said, there's only so much that can be done in PP.. plastic surgery just can't cure bad genes I suppose.

G