Oysters, a photo from Pernambuco, Northeast

Photographer's Note

In some of Brazil’s beaches it is common to find people walking around selling food… crabs, shrimps, cheese, fruit… but my favorites are the ones that carry buckets filled with ice and day-catch oysters.

If you nod at them, they will sit by your side, hand you a half lemon… and start opening oysters until you say… please, no more! (The price is really cheap, and a dozen can go for about USD 4).

Relaxing in the afternoon with a cold drink (choose whatever you like), looking at the fantastic sea colors, and having some oysters is an experience that can make you feel in harmony with the universe!

The photo was taken in Porto de Galinhas (you can see here my previous note on that place).

The rocks behind the man are part of the reefs (rock and coral) that are very common in that region. You can also see a hint of them in the shades of the water (when I took the photo, the tide was at its lowest point).

In this case I used a big aperture to get a shallow DOF and isolate better the subject. Using a ND filter helped with that and also tamed the very strong highlights.

Hope you like it and your critiques and comments are most welcomed!

Raw Capture at ISO 100 – f3.5 – 1/2000s @ 200 mm.
Post processing: only raw conversion (PS ACR) to tif, and then contrast (curves), USM and save for the web

isabela_sor, cengiz, andante, gilbriones2002, pitai, Rev, brasiu, efigesta, berek, Tezic, pablominto, TeresaT, L2K, vinicio, aznegrao, Didi, pboehringer has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

cengiz (3591) 2006-01-13 11:28

hi carlos,
very nice daily picture, good contrast and colors
well done
cengiz

hojper (2832) 2006-01-13 11:30

What a good note to go with a good photo. It makes my mouth water. And I like the dof that has blurred the ocean and the sky and thereby accentuated the interesting colours in the background. And the man is crystal sharp as he should be.

gilbriones2002 (930) 2006-01-13 12:08

Carlos, reading your note made my mouth water, i love oysters, sadly i did not get to the beaches in the north, i went in the interior instead. love your photo, with the guy in his patriotic sombrero, i have a bandana similar to that, bought in Rio.

pitai (3979) 2006-01-13 14:54

Me encanta este primer plano. Esta muy bien definido. El desenfoque del fondo hace que resalte mucho mas el sujeto. Los colores bien vivos y definidos. Personalmente dejaría un poquito de margen superior e inferior para balancear. Creo que así queda mas estético y no se ve tan apretado. Y la nota muy buena. Me gusta. Un grande saludo, Gabriel

Rev (1782) 2006-01-13 15:34

Hi Carlos

A beautiful photo.
The colours are truly wonderful. The blues, from the light blue of the gloves through to the turquois of the hat and sea work so well together.
I love the way the sharpness of the man stands out against the softness of the background. It really brings him to life and places you there with him.
A beautiful, natural photo.
Thanks
regards
Peter

[2]

rosaline (0) 2006-01-14 9:09

Hi Carlos
A good daily life capture here and one that shows us another life to Brazil's beaches. The scene is well exposed considering the very bright conditions. Using the ND filter is a benefit here, and the shot freezes the man in a good stance. Good work all-round.
Have a great weekend.
Aubrey

berek (31899) 2006-01-14 10:40

Hi Carlos,
very good composition and nice focus.
Have a nice sunday
B.Erek
Framing :8**Colors:9**POV :8**idea :9

Tezic (17807) 2006-01-14 13:19

Carlos, reading your note made my mouth water too. :))The colours are wonderful.. timing & composition wonderfull...
Coskun

efigesta (12188) 2006-01-15 6:11

Hola Carlos

interesante composicio aca, buenas colores y una buena nota

buen fds manuel

ahmetgedikli (25058) 2006-01-15 6:32

Hi Carlos,
Very nice composition and nice depth emotional. Well done,
Ahmet

claudiaf (4428) 2006-01-15 7:38 [Comment]

Show Comment

gebala (0) 2006-01-15 7:57

hello, I love ur spy shots:) better than ur flowers;) nice compo, great moment, nice colours and contrast, well done
rgs

pablominto (53744) 2006-01-15 13:22

Hi Carlos,
Great capture of daily life! Excellent colours and details, very pleasing composition... I like the surf out there to add some extra spice!
Regards,
Pablo -

TeresaT (10806) 2006-01-15 17:57

Buena foto que tienes aquí.
Elegiste una perfecta apertura del diafragma, porque destaca mucho más el hombre.
Y las colores san perfectas.
Saludos
Teresa
También escribo e comprendo español ;)

[2] +

anavazao (5592) 2006-01-16 3:47

Hi,
nice shot with good colours!
Ana:)

elmec (12210) 2006-01-16 14:18

Hello Carlos!
That's Amazing!
The working man, the rocks, and the sea!
You cut it perfectly!
That's very nice composition!
I like it very much!
Greetings!

anesugur (18757) 2006-01-18 17:03

Hi Carlos,
Very good timing, composition and colors.
Well done. Uğur

L2K (240) 2006-01-20 19:38

Carlos, you did a very good job with composition here, captured a nice moment too. The idea of keeping just the man in focus is great. Interesting story, it must be a lot of fun to be there on the beach :)
greetings,
Leszek

nofer (3215) 2006-01-21 17:33

Qualidade da foto excelente. Muito boa composição. Cores ótimas.
Bom trabalho!
TFS
Reynaldo

[2]

jkos (981) 2006-01-24 6:35

Excelent shot. Strait to my favorites.
Very relaxing. I can almost feel the sea
breeze! Great DOF and framing.
TFS,
Joel

xavshot (69835) 2006-02-11 11:47

Très belles couleurs Carlos et superbes contrastes sur cette photo. J'aime bien l'effet 3D qu'elle procure. Excellente lumière
Bravo
Xavier

vinicio (23415) 2006-02-24 8:44

Hello Carlos, beautiful image here, your decision to leave out of focus the background is very appreciable, beautiful colors, subject and great note of description, compliments.
Ciao
Vinicio

elBud (2235) 2006-02-24 20:24

otra de tus grandes fotografias, me encanta la gran profundidad de campo que tiene esta, un tremendo enfoque, buenisimos colores y tremenda toma, captaste el cielo, el mar, las piedras detras y totalmente bien iluminado....

muy bien Carlos!

aznegrao (10296) 2006-03-17 12:29

Legal o chapel do Brasil.
Muito interessante essa imagem, as texturas, contrastes e a posição do motivo no quadro são fortes. Gosto da atmosfera que a imagem transmite.
Lindo trabalho Carlos.
Friend.
aznegrao.

Didi (48872) 2006-03-30 11:53

Bonsoir Carlos
Intéressante composition parfaitement colorée.
Afin de donner plus d'impact à l'image c'est d'éviter de centrer vos sujets comme je l'ai expliqué sur mon WS.

Good evening Carlos
Interessant perfectly coloured composition. In order to give more impact to the image is to avoid centering your subjects as I explained on my WS.

[workshop] [compare] +

plimrn (21344) 2006-05-08 20:13

Hi Carlos,
I like the way you've used the DOF to frame the oysterman sharply against the pleasantly blurred background, the color is wonderful as well.
Regards, Pat

Angshu (51174) 2006-08-23 3:50

Hello Carlos
A good daily life capture here. Considering the extreme bright light, the scene is well exposed. Your use of shallow DOF really works well here as we are able to clearly focus on the subject. Well done!
Regards
Angshu

pboehringer (770) 2006-08-26 0:22

Ola Carlos, parece que ha ainda algumas coisas para se aprender neste Brasil. Eu ja tive camarao no espetinho, acaraje, sorvete ... mas eu nunca vi ostras. Creio que na minha proxima viagem ao Brasil em fevereiro esta praia sera o meu destino.
Abraco, Peter