Richard Siersma  


Tia Chi for Seniors by Richard Siersma

December 2021 - Tia Chi for Seniors

December 2021 - Richard Siersma

Original

About the Image(s)

This was taken during a tour we took to China; one of our tour group members decided he would practice Tia Chi alongside one of the Chinese members in the midst of her morning routine.
The exposure was: 1/80@f4.5 ISO 800
I cloned out the people in the BG with PS, then used Luminar AI to isolate the subjects and soften the BG. Back into PS to do some dodging and burning and a final crop.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
6 comments posted




Mark Burgess   Mark Burgess
Hi Richard. Like the opportunity you took to make this image. Strongly sense some tension here between a very elegant practitioner and a fellow tourist not taking the Tia Chi seriously. She is doing a beautiful job of ignoring him which makes him try harder for attention.

Not so fond of the post though. On accessing the large scale image my eye was drawn to the red fringe around his fist due to incomplete cloning of the background people. And the softening of the pavement makes him look like he is levitating. Luminar has softened the pavement all the way to the bottom edge of the image. I would mask out the Luminar layer to the point beyond their feet.   Posted: 12/04/2021 20:31:16



David Price   David Price
For me the image is about the expression on the man's face. He seems to be enjoying himself. I bet when he did this he never expected to be in digital dialogue. I suspect you have, quite rightly, brightened both faces in Luminar. I think you could improve it by brightening the LHS of the man's face. You were right in cloning out the people in the background but as Candia pointed out in my image it could be improved. The path on the RHS seems to have vanished. The big problem for me is the lamp between the two people but you could try to clone this out.   Posted: 12/06/2021 11:52:49
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I like the capture of the moment and the expression on the man's face is great against the deadpan look on the woman's.

In blurring the background I feel you've decontextualised it which doesn't work particularly well for me. I get cloning out the passersby but I don't particularly like the tight crop. One reason is that, unlike David, I rather like the lamp post which creates division between them and I don't like the way you've chopped its lid off. More important though, I don't feel you've left enough head space for either of them. It feels as though if either of them stood up, their heads would be right out of the frame - just feels a little too tight for me.   Posted: 12/06/2021 15:36:59



Barbara E Miller   Barbara E Miller
A fun image Rick. although I have to comment that I hope the lady who is taking the exercise seriously isn't thinking 'another American' but because of his age somehow it doesn't come across as being touristy. I think you caught a good memorable moment and the cropping is well done. I would think he would have loved to have had a copy of this.
  Posted: 12/10/2021 22:02:36



Sophia Schade   Sophia Schade
Hi Richard, Love the expression on both faces especially the men's. I truly don't have anything to add.   Posted: 12/11/2021 23:32:58



Oliver Morton   Oliver Morton
Richard, you've captured a study in humanity. It's a fascinating image and provides both intrigue (what is the lady thinking) and a story. I love the expressions and how they differ. Well seen and well captured.

To me, the image's primary points of interest are the two people. Because I found the background a bit distracting, I played with the photograph in Photoshop and Camera Raw to see how I might further highlight the people.

Your thoughts?

  Posted: 12/12/2021 11:40:13
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