Srijan Roy Choudhury
July 2024 - Agriculture - Picking Up Tea Leaves
About the Image(s)
The Himalayan mountain region is the Northern part of my home state, West Bengal. The place is world famous for its tea gardens and the tea is GI tagged as "Darjeeling Tea". During one of my trips to the hills, I stopped near one of such gardens where the labourers, generally women, were picking up fresh tea leaves. I composed the image in a way to lead the viewers' eyes to the depth of the garden and ultimately come back to the lady in front. The post-processing was mainly done in Lr with simple exposure fixing, dehaze and finally cropping. The time of the day wasn't ideal, but as a travel photographer, I can not always choose my preferred time, no matter how much I desire.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
11 comments posted
Welcome to our group, Srijan! Now our group is international. We look forward to seeing your photos. Posted: 07/07/2024 17:54:59
I was happy to see a photo from your part of the world. I especially like that it tells the story of tea leaf picking so clearly. I think the bright daylight is good for allowing me to clearly see the hillside scene and the workers. There are no shadows or dark areas blocking off my view. My eyes look at the lady first and then the rest of the pickers, and then I take in the entire scene as a beautiful hillside in a picturesque environment. I see 2 poles in the center of the photo. Are they for electricity or phone? Posted: 07/07/2024 18:07:49
Thank you for your kind words of appreciation. Those are electricity poles. I left them be to convey the environment more truthfully. Posted: 07/07/2024 19:21:26
I like seeing the electricity poles because they give the image a "time" setting. They let me know this is a scene from modern days. The tea leaf pickers were probably working in these fields before electricity was invented. Posted: 07/08/2024 19:14:12
(Groups 6 & 41 & 74)
Srijan - This is beautiful. The composition really strikes me. You see the foregound picker, but then your eye is led down the path to see the other workers, and then into the background. But the foreground image is so strong you go back to that. The image seems circular.
I studied the mountains for color and find it quite believable. I did question the brightness of the greens, but that must be what it really looks like. Nice image of agriculture. Posted: 07/08/2024 15:29:32
I studied the mountains for color and find it quite believable. I did question the brightness of the greens, but that must be what it really looks like. Nice image of agriculture. Posted: 07/08/2024 15:29:32
Thank you for your kind words. Yes, the leaves were vibrant as it rained a few hours back and then the sun came back with bright light. Posted: 07/08/2024 16:09:41
As with Carole's sunflower image, I really like the perspective and depth in this image. I also like the layers through the image. The one distraction for me is the tree that tree behind the front laborer appears to come out of her back. I know that it is not always possible, but did you have room to move and take the photo from a slightly different angle to separate the tree from her? The only other suggestion would be to remove the one laborer in purple to her left. Posted: 07/08/2024 18:50:26
Thank you for your appreciation. As far as I can remember, had I gone to my left, the face of the front lady couldn't be included. I shall surely try to remove the purple dressed person. Posted: 07/09/2024 08:32:37
Welcome to Group 12 Srijan. I'm looking forward to seeing your photos, especially the ones from India. The colors of everything are very vibrant, and that is something I think of when I think of India--although I have never been there.
You did a nice job of framing the main woman in the foreground - and as others have said there is a great depth to your photo. I would take out the woman in purple on the left edge of the frame and probably the plant with flowers that is to the right of your main subject and just to the left of the woman with the tan scarf on her head. It is very blurry (as you would expect given where it is in the background), but it's a bit of a distraction from the rest of the photo since I had to stop and look to figure out what it is. There is also that lovely path that leads me through the field and right to your main subject, but that blurry flower stops my eye.
Thank you for sharing! Posted: 07/08/2024 20:48:20
You did a nice job of framing the main woman in the foreground - and as others have said there is a great depth to your photo. I would take out the woman in purple on the left edge of the frame and probably the plant with flowers that is to the right of your main subject and just to the left of the woman with the tan scarf on her head. It is very blurry (as you would expect given where it is in the background), but it's a bit of a distraction from the rest of the photo since I had to stop and look to figure out what it is. There is also that lovely path that leads me through the field and right to your main subject, but that blurry flower stops my eye.
Thank you for sharing! Posted: 07/08/2024 20:48:20
You composed the scene well with the main subject at a good spot according to the Rule of Thirds. Her hands lead to the tree on the left, along the edge of the hill and back to the subject. The background mountains are beautiful. This is a lovely scene, one that seems to offer many views and interpretations. Very nicely done. Welcome to our group. So I tried to make the suggested edits. The Remove Tool did a decent job on the woman in purple, the blurry flower, and the woman in tan. But I found that the other people helped to tell the story. Posted: 07/12/2024 18:32:30
This is a nice journalistic story and you have captured her expression well being intent on picking her leaves. Nice colours throughout too. I agree with Connie's edits as the 2 ladies are a bit distracting to me. Looking forward to seeing more of your images. Posted: 07/16/2024 16:06:41