Ramon A La Fiesta
 

I would love your comments on this image. I took it at a Fiesta during a recent visit to Tenerife. This guy is the essence of Tenerife, their culture and what the Fiesta was all about.

[URL="http://media.digitalcameraworld.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/4/3/1/1/ramon.jpg"][IMG]http://media.digitalcameraworld.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/4/3/1/1/ramon.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

He looks like a real character. Great natural pose, nice composition and colours.
The silver band across the background is a bit distracting but I know you can't always choose your background and have to make do with what's in front of you at the time. And it would be nice to see a bit more detail in his face. Only minor points and overall a good shot with atmosphere. Well done.

I noticed the road instantly but for me it just gave the photo a little more of the story. I agree that the face needs the shadows lifting.

Oo thats omething i havrnt tried befor...any tips on how to lift the shadows? Im still quite naive in pp'ing.

In camera raw coff coff hehe its very easy. In PS create a curves adjustment layer. Use the layer mask in the adjustment layer to target just the face then using the left part of the curve line (middle of first column ish) set a point and pull in up until it look right. If its not quite right you can keep playing until it does.

I dont shoot in raw cos I cant support raw files for boring reasons I wont go into lol...I am just learning about layers at the minute (my new found help - I love it). I understand how to do an adjustment layer for the curvesand how to use it, bit how do I only adjust the face...surely the whole thinwilladjust....Dunnohow to isolate the face.

this is an interesting picture and i just love teneriffe as you havent shot RAW i would use the dodge tool to lighten and the burn tool to darken. another thing i would have done is may be move my position he looks like he wanted to have his pic taken so I am sure he would have moved and that may have got a better back ground. also as he was the main subject i would have used a shallow dof and blurred the back ground more all though you can do that in photoshop. what are the reasons for not shooting RAW can we help

OK here's my 'improved' shot..Have lightened the face using my new found skill lol.

[URL="http://media.digitalcameraworld.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/4/3/1/1/ramon_the_entertainer.jpg"][IMG]http://media.digitalcameraworld.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/4/3/1/1/ramon_the_entertainer.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

The reason I can't shoot raw is to do with my editing suite (sounds grand lol, but i mean my mac and photoshop). I was previously (before christmas) using a net book and elements 10. The screen resolution was pants. Anyway, for christmas my son (who is a film/TV editior) surprised me with a second hand mac pro from work, as they has upgraded. It has an old processor with CS3 installed and I can't use any new software or upload updates etc. It won't recognise my Canon DSLR disk as it is in a newer format. I can't download any RAW programmes either.

This is such a shame as I am improving leaps and bounds now.

Very nice portrait with bags of character but personally I find the background and slightly off center composition a bit too distracting .

Just my opinion .

Mark

hi this is a link to the dng converter so you can shoot raw and then convert to dng
[url]http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?platform=Macintosh&product=106[/url]