Lori Azevedo  


Woman in the Blue Dress by Lori Azevedo

October 2024 - Woman in the Blue Dress

About the Image(s)

This photo was taken in 2019 in Lisbon Portugal. I keep going back to work on editing this image. It's still not where I want it to be yet. I'm working on filters to age the photo. I did remove 3 other men who were in the image.

I had been on a photo walk with a profession photographer. We were shooting trolley cars all morning. We began following this woman as she turned the corner and started her walk through the alleyways in Lisbon. Most of the streets are very narrow and twist and turn randomly. She did not seem to be bothered by us. The old-world beauty of Lisbon still haunts me. I can't wait to return.

This photo was taken with my old Nikon D610 camera. Why my ISO was set at 160 I don't know. the F-stop was at 5 and the exposure was 1/100.


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




Carol Heffernan   Carol Heffernan
Lori, I can't believe your group followed her through the streets …I but glad you did. The blue dress stands out, especially against the wall to her right and that red building gives good contrast to keep your eyes moving into the image. She is well exposed, with great light, and there is a feeling of real depth in the image. There are so many little details I want to explore in the image- street lamp and green balconies, (the plastic thing in the middle left is a bit odd), and then my eyes circle back to the blue dress woman. Nice. Glad you removed other people.   Posted: 10/14/2024 00:54:02
Lori Azevedo   Lori Azevedo
Thank you, Carol. This was definitely a ratty old alley. And truthfully, I never felt safer than I was in Lisbon. Having a Portuguese husband helps.   Posted: 10/15/2024 17:29:36



Zina Mirsky   Zina Mirsky
Great capture! You mention 'aging' the photo; one thing that comes to mind is that her blue dress, while the major focus of the picture, is too crisp and shiny for such an aging artifact. Maybe editing for a bit less 'clarity' in her (the subject) would lend her to softness that matches the aging of the walls and cobbles. I too am puzzled by the hanging plastic drapery at the left but it was there and I don't know if it would be able to be removed, as you did with people. Nicely, too, as far as I can see - no aberrant shadows or blurring to pull my eye away!   Posted: 10/14/2024 01:15:30
Lori Azevedo   Lori Azevedo
Hi Zina:
I will see what I can do with the plastic sheathing hanging from the wall. This photo is one of those that will keep me working.   Posted: 10/15/2024 17:31:16



Pauline Jaffe   Pauline Jaffe
This is a lovely image of the streets of old Lisbon. My eyes follow first the peeling walls of the alleyway and then to the woman because of her bright blue dress. Every time I look at the alleyway I am always drawn back to the woman. The woman gives a "constant" to the image. Just lovely.   Posted: 10/14/2024 17:27:38
Lori Azevedo   Lori Azevedo
Hi Pauline:

Thank you for your comments. I'm glad that the blue dress was able to hold your eye.
  Posted: 10/15/2024 17:32:25



Alec Chester   Alec Chester
This is wonderful street photography! I really enjoy the great blue dress and the perfect placement of the woman. My only though was to bring out the distant shadows some more. (See attached, but I don't know if it represents any improvement at all.) It's a great image and quite striking. Personally, I like that the blue dress is in such contrast to the aging colors of the scene.

For some reason the manipulated photo won't load. No loss!   Posted: 10/15/2024 17:38:12



Alec Chester   Alec Chester
It finally appeared !   Posted: 10/15/2024 18:02:21
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Rick Taft   Rick Taft
Lori,
I love old alleyways and narrow streets in old cities, so your shot caught my eye right away. I think the woman in her blue dress is a great contrast with the stone...both the walls and the roadway. As for how to edit, I like your thought about aging the photo, but I don't interpret that to mean you have to age every single thing in it...like the blue dress, which actually helps the photo for me because it contrasts with the stonework. I don't see any artifacts from where the 3 men were, so getting rid of them was probably a good thing because the fact that she is alone adds to it for me. It's interesting, though, that Alec took the approach that it would be good to recover detail from shadows in the depths of the alley, which makes the whole shot brighter. While it is strictly a personal preference, my own approach would be to make the depths of the alley DARKER, more mysterious. See the feedback image...I did a radial gradient on the alley to darken and enrich (white balance and saturation) the depth, and for her dress (separate mask) I pulled down highlights a bit on her dress. But this is a really intriguing shot no matter how you edit it...the play of light and shadow and the stones in these old streets is captivating.   Posted: 10/16/2024 00:52:54
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