Western Days

[Marshall Everett]

I had a chance to take some shots at a local western days event. Here is on that I played with a bit. I was snapping a lot of shots and have had time to process some.

this is the original image

My first pass at production

Then I saw it this way

 

[Asher Kelman]

Marshall,

I cannot believe we missed this new venture of yours n natural light. My immediate impression on seeing the very first image was to hope for a version where the increased saturation of her face and the attention-gettng detail of the weave of the Western hat might be tamed by going to B&W or sepia. Your last image is a good start as a way of marry the elements.

I always like context, not that I'm right in any of my eclectic preferences, LOL! So I'd look to clone out the partial person on the right in the first picture and look to decreasing the saturation of the face and decreasing the contrast of the detail of the weave on the top of her hat, especially to see if color can work as you intended for this composition.

Next I'd look at B&W and sepia versions of the corrected mage to provide another way of getting unity in the picture devoid of color distraction. The latter have a fair chance of being more impressive.

Western pictures might be be biased, IMHO, on earth tones with departure not being too harsh to the senses, so as to preserve the magical spell of the raw West of Cowboy and cowgal land!

Asher

 

[Marshall Everett]

Here is an attempt to take this image into B/W. I used the original file and removed some of the background items.

Marshall Everett The Western Stare ​

 

[JimCollum]

When converting to b/w, you might try changing the channel/filter you use. This can control the tonal values of the skin tones. I've done some sample conversions using different filtration values (stay away from green and blue..

neutral

red

orange

yellow

 

[Marshall Everett]

Jim, thanks, that is helpful to see the variations. I will play with this and some other shots from this event. I have a good number from the day that I can play with.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I think I understand it now! We don't need to concentrate on the cowgirl uniform!

I had a chance to take some shots at a local western days event. Here is on that I played with a bit. I was snapping a lot of shots and have had time to process some.

My first pass at production

Marshall,

Yes, she's dressed as a cowgirl but here essence is some how separated from that identity. I've been thinking about how this cowgirl picture might be presented so we feel her person more. I realized that the intensity of the eyes might be more important than anything else and that we don't really need to see so much of her "uniform" and might frame accordingly.

Cropped

Cropped and blended with sharpened and blurred layers​

She now seems to dominate more as she should. We have enough of the hat and kerchief to know her cowgirl status and there she is, in direct face to face confrontation with is!

Asher

 

[Marshall Everett]

Marshall,

Yes, she's dressed as a cowgirl but here essence is some how separated from that identity. I've been thinking about how this cowgirl picture might be presented so we feel her person more. I realized that the intensity of the eyes might be more important than anything else and that we don't really need to see so much of her "uniform" and might frame accordingly.

Cropped

Cropped and blended with sharpened and blurred layers​

She now seems to dominate more as she should. We have enough of the hat and kerchief to know her cowgirl status and there she is, in direct face to face confrontation with is!

Asher

Asher,

Thank you for your insight. I was concerned about getting more aggressive with my crop and you have shown a different method to obtain an excellent view of this image. I am sure that she will love your contribution.