Richard Siersma  


Graduation Day by Richard Siersma

June 2022 - Graduation Day

About the Image(s)

This image was taken in Vietnam after a graduation ceremony in Hanoi. There was very little post-processing; in PS I used select and mask the subject, then inversed the mask. Next, I selected the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer and lowered the brightness.
This was taken with a Nikon D70s using a Nikkor 18-200 @ 200mm.
The exposure was 1/800 @ f7.1; ISO 320


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




Jim Horn   Jim Horn
Richard, the expression is fantastic for such a great day. Very well done. I don't know what the original is like, but I think you did some good work to lower the brightness. I did a little work with the dodge tool to brighten and soften the shadows on her face. Let me know if you see a difference and if you like it. Jim   Posted: 06/01/2022 14:47:22
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Mark Burgess   Mark Burgess
Lovely human interest shot, Richard. I like the increased focus on her face with Jim's edits. Perhaps even a click further by reducing the brights on her dress and flowers.   Posted: 06/01/2022 21:05:23



Barbara E Miller   Barbara E Miller
Lovely image Rick, I am sure if she had a copy she would be pleased, her smile and obvious pleasure is delightful. Rather an odd bunch of flowers to give a girl eh?but maybe in Vietnam they are seen differently and have some significance.   Posted: 06/02/2022 14:31:41



Sophia Schade   Sophia Schade
Love the image and love her smile! Nice changes by Jim and sugestion by Mark. The only change I have is crop from the bottom where she is holding the flowers. I also wish the whole bouquet was shown.   Posted: 06/04/2022 18:43:46



David Price   David Price
I also like this picture. What a beautiful smile and I love her dress. In my version I have desaturated her dress and flowers to encourage us to look more at her face. I have lightened her face, put catchlights in her eyes and brought the eyes out more. Because we are working with a low definition image this is not as obvious as it might be. Finally I whitened her side teeth. I assume you haven't cropped the RHS as I would prefer to see all of the flowers.   Posted: 06/08/2022 17:37:38
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Bev Caine   Bev Caine
(Groups 24 & 48 & 58)
Lovely image of happiness. I like David's improvement.   Posted: 06/15/2022 08:31:16



Richard Siersma   Richard Siersma
Thanks, everyone for your comments. Jim, I do see the improvements and I will work on the original to get the same results. Dave, nice idea to add catchlights and whiten her teeth. I don't know if I want to desaturate her dress but I will try to reduce the luminance without reducing the color.   Posted: 06/16/2022 08:42:50



Oliver Morton   Oliver Morton
Richard, your image is wonderful! As a child, I lived in the far east for two years and kissed my first girlfriend there. So, your photograph brought a flood of memories and feelings.

After reading all the comments (something I don't usually do), I decided to play with your lovely image in Photoshop and ACR. My first attempted modification was to add a bit of space on the right and above the woman's head. As you can see below, this wasn't completely satisfactory. I was clearly asking too much from Content-Aware Fill. Nonetheless, I moved ahead to slightly darken the background and make the woman "pop". I liked this modification. My FAR-less-than-perfect attempt is below.

  Posted: 06/24/2022 08:37:25
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