Thanks to my friend Alric for giving me the idea for the challenge.
Took a road trip to Nappanee a few miles away looking to catch some nice candids. I knew town would be busy, since the Amish do their shopping on Saturday. Caught this lady as she was leaving the grocery store.
Cropped, adjusted levels & contrast, desaurated all but the blue, slight gausian blur, USM, 2 pixel border, and that's it.
Hope you like it.
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This was a good idea! However, while it meets the theme topically, it doesn't meet it compositionally. The composition is crowded, and while there is a focal point (the person), they are partly obscured, bent over the other way, and facing the other way.
IMHO there were a number of ways to approch this. The key would have been to reduce the number of elements in the photo as well as capturing a portrait of the simple life. On the other side of the post would have been a good start. Catching just the one carriage, perhaps even as she pulled away, would have worked as well.
Where are you from? I have Amish relatives all over Indiana, Ohio, Michigan. I know for a fact that they she did not know you were shooting her! On a tech note, your focus is a little soft and I don't think the selective desaturation works here. You did hit the challenge on the nose though!
TC
The connection between Armish-people and simplicity is very straight foreward and thus well choosen. The image itself however is somewhat crowded: one carrige might have been better. Also pure B&W might have been a better choice, because the blue dress attracts the attention of the viewer first, but the dress isn't of interest, or is blue a special armish color? Also, what happend to the head of the wommen, looks like being cut off.
Too bad the fence is there. This is a potentially great shot - would like to have seen the person turned around. I like what you did with the b&w - but left the blue.
Yeah, really a simple and interesting shot. I would prefer to no see the blue colour in your composition. So, it´s a good picture and meets the challenge very good. 7
Personally I feel this shot would be better in full black and white, to me black and white with a bit of color is only appropriate when a key element of the photo is highlighted in color, in this case, I don't feel that the skirt is a key element or a main focal point and draws attention away from the horse and carriage. 6
The lean in the foreground is a bit distracting for me, but this is a very nice composition. I wonder why you have desaturated all colours except blues. I think a full desaturation and sepia tones would have made it, too. :-) Just an opinion.
Technical: Most all images submitted fit the challenge. This does well. Exposure composition focus lighting all good, though for me the selective coloring doesn't add anything to the shot.
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