Rojak Man Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

A man selling rojak (a kind of salad - Indian style) at a street corner. He had just concluded his last sales of the day and ready to pack up & push his cart to his house which is a block away in a middle class neighborhood ... not bad for a street food seller. He starts business from 12:00 to about 19:00. He has been around at various street corners in this neighborhood for more than 15 years.

No flash. Taken at high ISO of 1600. The day was turning dark. Learning to take people photos. People photo is not easy ... too many variables that don't remain constant. I have another photo of this man with a nice big smile but it came out blurred. This one has strong street light above the head. I cloned and blurred the overexposure artifacts inside the light circle above the head. Comments & critiques are appreciated. Thanks.

al-Farrob, Jakab, PixelTerror, shevchenko, jlbrthnn, Charo, belido has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

CLODO (4741) 2009-01-11 3:47

Hello Latiff
For me it's a good portrait, but your picture could be better if you don't put at the center the portrait, and remove the white blurred circle above his head (except if he is a saint!)
Regards
CLODO

deermen (1550) 2009-01-11 3:50

hello,
very nice portrait.
I like it
regards.

Budapestman (43292) 2009-01-11 3:58

Hi Latiff,
Splendid portrait with attractive composition and great background. I like the particular lights, excellent shot. Have a nice Sunday!
George

baba_flies (8191) 2009-01-11 4:39

Hello Latiff! Great portrait and many times it is really nice to use no flash, this way the colors keep more natural. What I really like are the light "balls" in the back, they give an urban touch and add an artistic approach to me. Very good, I like it. Best regards, Barbara.

Jakab (3534) 2009-01-11 5:37

Hello Latiff,
sure, portrait photography is not an easy job - definitely much more complicated than to criticize portraits produced by others. Since the key elements of a portrait are usually the eyes my only (not too grave) problem with this picture is that the left eye is too dark, not really vivid. I have uploaded a corrected version for comparison in WS, I hope you will like it. But as a whole, the picture with perfectly blurred and contrasting background, the interesting face, the expression of the man - excellent!
Best whishes
Laszlo

[workshop] [compare]

foozi (4759) 2009-01-11 5:54

Salam Latiff,
I think you did very well with this rojak man. He looks saturated and dense, the combination of his shirt ans the skin colour. The ketayap put a bit blurr further more with the lighting at the back. Maybe that is going for perfection in a studio. but for a gerai eater like us, this alreday an achievement...as i like the shot and the pleasant smile from the guy. I think I have met him before...TTDI or Bangsar?

Regards,
Foozi

NB: Becoming Pavlov dog, salivating on the mention of rojak.

PixelTerror (87195) 2009-01-11 12:57

Hi LAtiff
I see you've been shopping... congratulations !
The picture tells it all, be able to shoot such pictures without flash is alone a reason to upgrade, nice portrait with good bokeh.
Have a nice day JY

shevchenko (10192) 2009-01-11 21:38

Hi Latiff,
His eyeballs seem in blue color, nice soft and natural color & lighting, I am not often admire portrait shoot, I have no idea with the shooting skill, I think is not easy to make a distinct portrait, thanks for sharing.
Ally

kschanna (6) 2009-01-11 23:21

Hi latiff,

I think you've done a good job with the coloning out of the light circle above the man's head. Ideally you would have only had a few bokeh'ed out spots in the bg but this is fine the way it is.

Thanks for sharing
Kamran

jlbrthnn (39501) 2009-01-12 2:29

Hello Latiff,
You have the art of the portrait, and the good vision of what is interesting in a face. It is a superb realization, perfectly exposed and coloured. Congratulations.
Have a nice day
Cordially
Joël

Charo (32190) 2009-01-12 15:01

Hello Latiff,
Excellent portrait of this man with his expressions well marked. I like the lighting of the background out. Good job.
Best regards,
Charo

belido (17185) 2009-01-13 2:47

Hi Latiff,

I think it was a very difficult situation for a potrait but you did it very well. Light was well managed as we can see. I like how you framed him and well chosen dof. Very good night portrait!
Regards,
Carlos

Photo Information

Copyright: latiff ttdi (ls7902) (6408)
Genre: People
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2009-01-10
Categories: Daily Life, Food
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, Hoya 77mm HMC UV
Exposure: f/2.8, 1/125 seconds
More Photo Info: view
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Date Submitted: 2009-01-11 3:41