This was taken at the Rendezvous at Fort de Chartres in Illinois (a reconstructed early 1700's French Fort at the original site on the Mississippi River). Besides a lot of reenactors, there were a many craft people and others selling articles from the 1700's period. This man was making spoons to sell. I liked the concentration of him on his work, the completed spoons in the background, and the small ones on his hat. It was taken with my Olympus digital OM-1 and Olympus 14-150mm lens at 49mm, 1/320 seconds, f8.0 and ISO 400. I did adjust the highlight and shadows sliders in lightroom and use Topaz Photo AI to reduce noise and sharpen. His clothing, especially the bright green shirt was distracting to me, so I converted to mono in Photoshop. In the mono version, I did dodge his face some.
This round’s discussion is now closed! 10 comments posted
Ed Ogle
A very nice image! I would consider a bit more contrast and burning the really bright background elements. I did a quick edit of what I'm talking about. What do you think? Posted: 03/06/2025 14:19:44
Tom McCreary
I like what you did, with darkening the shirt. Posted: 03/10/2025 11:57:01
Somdutt Prasad
I pushed the green channel in ACR to darken his shirt and the yellow channel to darken the spoons and the wood, pushed contrast and added a vignette. See what you think.
Posted: 03/07/2025 11:12:05
Tom McCreary
You darkened the skin and especially the face too much. Now you can hardly see his face and glasses. Posted: 03/10/2025 11:59:18
Wes Odell
As is common in DD32: "more contrast" is the word. I like Somdutt's contrast rendition best. But you're still the best when it comes to vintage subjects, Tom. Posted: 03/10/2025 10:01:27
Tom McCreary
After Somdutt's adjustments his face and glasses are way to dark. Posted: 03/10/2025 12:00:54
Stephen Levitas
Ed did a very good job of darkening that bright background.
As to the subject, the man is great, and the display of his finished wares, as well as his hat, make great context. Posted: 03/10/2025 22:40:03
Diana Magor
Agree with all that -the face needed lightening and there are so many ways to do it. Very interesting subject. I think the top right corner could do with being darker to bring the focus back to the man. Does he make a living making spoons? Posted: 03/11/2025 06:52:52
Tom McCreary
I have no idea whether this is a hobby, part-time income work, or full time. But he is more elderly, so it might be something to make extra money and keep him busy in retirement. I was just walking along seeing the craft people and their items. I did not stop to talk to him as he seemed very intent in his work. Posted: 03/11/2025 13:02:47
Jennifer Doerrie
This is a beautifully composed image of the artisan at work, and I really like how you've included some of the spoons beside and behind him. The monochrome conversion was a good idea, as I find the green shirt in the color image somewhat distracting. While the back wall is very bright in your image, I agree with you that it's important not to darken the subject's face/beard when darkening the wall behind him. Posted: 03/31/2025 04:33:00
