Toffee anyone

[Craig Kerr]

Canon 1D MKiv - Canon 17-40mm Lens @ 40mm - F 11 - SS 1/125 - ISO 200
Could not resist taking an image of this young lady selling toffee's while waiting at a road block outside a small rural town in South Africa

[Joe Senzatimore]

Fine portrait with spot on exposure. Wish for a better BG. Perhaps a wider f stop would have blurred it out some.

[Dennis Bishop]

Compliments on the shot and the tonal range. I agree with Joe that the background is distracting. If the box weren't there, the composition would be dead on, but I'd add some canvas to the top to give more space above the box. With the subject being vertical, that should work with no problem.

[Hazel Grant]

Like the shot and the comments above. This raises the question I still struggle with re photo rights. I am NOT challenging you. I am asking a legitemate question.....that others may with to comment on....If you were to enter this photo in a contest or to try to publish it in any way, would there be a required release? I see many travel photos such as this in online forums or in publications and just wonder about that. You can't carry a bunch of releases with you and ask strangers on the street to sign them, but what then would happen if you did publish the photo? Just asking.....

[Paul Lagasi]

Nice portrait image and I like how the B & W effect turned out. I wondered out loud...did he buy any toffee?

[Maureen Allen]

Nice portrait, Craig. I agree about the background, though it's minor and easy enough to apply a little blur. As far as adding canvas to the top, I could go either with the OP or a small amount of canvas - both have merits.

Hazel, I'm not an expert on this topic, but I know that the photo contests I've entered all required releases. It makes sense since the winning images in those contests may be used to the benefit of the sponsors. Using someone's "likeness" for commercial benefit without a release wouldn't be something I'd try

[Hazel Grant]

I haven't tried it. I know that contests require leases, but I wonder occasionally what about those National Geographic people, etc who publish such wonderful photos of people around the world....they couldn't run up with a release in their hands to people who don't speak their language and maybe can't even read or write.....but I guess maybe my mind runs down strange tracks sometimes......

At anyrate, re this photo, I think I would try to add some canvas to the top and maybe run a brush tool at about 3-4% black over the ground area around the sweater just to give a bit of contrast. Great catch of the face and the cultural situation.

[Craig Kerr]

Thanks for all your comments.
More canvas to the top and add some blur to the BG - Thanks can work with these improvements :-)
We did buy some of her toffee's, did not pull any of my fillings out :-)

Hazel I did ask before taking the image, she was happy to oblige - Would I need a release, written - I think not.

[Craig Kerr]

Attached is a post - including most of your comments

[Dennis Bishop]

Nice work on the re-post, Craig. I had another thought about the white part of the background behind her sweater that might help to separate the two. Assuming you shot in color and converted to black and white, the software you used might permit you to play with the conversion of individual colors. I often use that capability in Nik Silver Efex to optimize tones. A Curves layer set to darken and masked with a soft brush to affect only the background behind the sweater would work, too.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Craig, I liked the original post and like the repost even better. Adding canvas on top helped give it some room. Nice work, hope to see more!