Took this at a crowded street fair on a damp afternoon. When I saw the candy apples shining in the gloom I thought of this challenge. Luckily I ran into a friend who volunteered to pose. I suggested the umbrella backdrop and "paid" him by buying the apple!
I used center-weighted metering and took the reading from his face. I cropped this in landscape because portrait orientation put the apple at the center of the composition.
I burned the umbrella to make it darker and dodged highlights in the model's facial hair. I also lightly dodged his eyes. I tried to soften a rough edge on one of the umbrella stays and sort of botched it.
The upper edge of the apple may look as if I "colored outside the lines", but there were actually two shades of red and that is the real color and shape coming through, including the bit of white highlight at top.
Used clarify tool at lowest setting. Slightly sharpened after resizing.
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Candy Apple Grey is the name of an 80's album by Hüsker Dü. I also considered naming this "Street Fare".
A big thank you to Joe W. His wonderful expression really makes this photo.
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Place: 157 out of 556 Avg (all users): 5.7040 Avg (commenters): 7.5714 Avg (participants): 5.5465 Avg (non-participants): 6.2353 Views since voting: 1593 Views during voting: 311 Votes: 223 Comments: 12 Favorites: 2 (view)
This is still one of my favorite shots of yours - I was one of the 9s in voting. Your friend is very photogenic, which helps, but your careful composition (using the umbrella is perfect, particularly where the lines go) and care during processing really make this shine.
DUDE!!!! Awesome Job!!! I love the way that his eyes are hooded, yet visible giving the smile just that little bit of dark edge. The umbrella stays fanning out are perfect, and I love the character lines in his face.
Great job with the desat.....I could sure use a tip or two from you, and the color in the apple is just perfect!
I hate you. I want a candy apple but there are none here :( Well, at least you know the selective desat was effective in my case. Love the cheeky grin.
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