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This is a candid picture I took on the on the
spur of the moment, and before they had time to react,
of the two sisters - my mother and aunty. I took it
in jpg format with an Olympus SP750UZ two years ago.
I blurred the background and resized them in
Photoshop. I know it is not a great picture, but it tells a story...



You can find the a similar picture at:

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~zafra52/

I love it! Although to me it makes me ask questions - Where did they come from? What are their stories!
Lee

I like the photo, but I hate the treatment.

Lose the black oval; if you're wanting to vignette this, then by all meas do so, but please, with a bit of subtlety, sensitivity, and sympathy for the image and subject.

I think that what you've done is way OTT and detracts from the beautiful intimacy in the image that you've otherwise created.

gstark wrote:I like the photo, but I hate the treatment.

Lose the black oval; if you're wanting to vignette this, then by all meas do so, but please, with a bit of subtlety, sensitivity, and sympathy for the image and subject.

I think that what you've done is way OTT and detracts from the beautiful intimacy in the image that you've otherwise created.

I agree 100%

The sharp edge of the oval was due to not knowing how to create a proper vignette, which I require to hide an excess of light coming from the window and to make the viewer focus on the scene. I thank you all for the comments. Here is the same image now with a vignette and a lens instead of a Gaussian blur. By the way, these ladies message is "waste not who want not".

This is a good image...it not only tells us something about the two women in the shot but it also shows us the way that things were done in times past....and not so past...

I also am not so sure on treatment...I would like to see the edges of the vignette still a little softer...maybe if you feather the selected area a little more before you darken the levels...

This is getting there, but it still needs further softening of the vignette.

A lot more softening; a lot more subtlety.

You should be aiming to get something more along the lines of simply a darkening towards the edges, rather than a full on black. Keep working on it; you'll get there.

Zafra if you want to Pm me the original I will have a go at it for you

Zafra, great image and story being told. I too am not a big fan of the spyhole look here, but a softer treatment may work better

Thank you all for the suggestions and critiques for I learned a lot. Thanks to you Bindii for the offer of fixing the overexposed area now hidden by the vignette.

After talking to my brother in Spain, he reminded me that we told the ladies that the pictures were going to be erased once the family had seen them. He and I decided instead to keep them, but he now wants them removed before the ladies hear about it and get upset for they would not understand the good intention of my action or my pride on capturing the moment.

That's a shame as its just a "slice of life" kind of shot.

Alpha_7 wrote:That's a shame as its just a "slice of life" kind of shot.

Craig,

This is not just a slice of life shot. It is an intimate view of the lives of these wonderful ladies. Mind you, I do understand and sympathise with their position.

Your right Gary, I certainly didn't meant "slice of life" in such an off the cuff way, but I reread what I wrote and it certainly comes across like that.. it is a very intimate view into their world, and I too can see why they'd rather keep the shot under wraps to to speak.