Old woman napping, a photo from Thimphu, West

Photographer's Note

I caught this old woman napping as I wandered around the morning market in Thimphu. She didn't open her eyes for quite a while, so I had plenty of time to get the focus and depth of field just right. There was a reasonable amount of light, and it was even across the front of the face, so I didn't need to use a fill-in flash which may have alerted her to my presence.

Focal length was 120 mm so I was shooting from a fair distance away, so nobody took much notice of me framing the shot. They probably thought I was taking a wide shot of the market.

The old lady looked like she was at peace with the world, and that was what I was trying to capture in this photograph. I guess she is of quite advanced age given the wrinkles on her face.

REPOST: I have reposted this, prompted by Prema's suggestion that it would have been nice to see a close-up of the face.

For this closer crop I've done a little PP (curves, contrast and sharpening mainly) but couldn't get the wrinkles on the face as sharp as I would have liked. That's probably because at the distance from which I was shooting, there was a tiny bit of camera movement. This was an occasion when a monopod would have come in useful (or maybe I should have gone for a higher ISO and 1/250).

vincz, joso, parbo, zips, cunejo200, bleung, tonyking, gelor, andreng, jafadabret, everlasting, riclopes, Silvio1953, sergio1 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

maki (0) 2006-10-18 8:12

Hi David,
Impressive face with all those wrinkles. i like how You choose perspective angle. Maybe it is a little bit oversharpened or there were some problems with a changing size... But still I think that this is a good portrait of this woman,
regards,
maki

vincz (19113) 2006-10-18 8:25

It is true that she looks so much at peace with eveything. A very good prtrait of this womand with her wrinkled face. Congratulations.

Serendipity (1045) 2006-10-18 8:35

Ce cadrage très serré est excellent pour ce genre de portrait. Il permet de bien mettre l'accent sur les rides et l'expression du visage de cette femme. On imagine très bien que sa vie n'a pas été facile.

parbo (11092) 2006-10-18 8:44

Hello David,

Deepest wrinkles tell us what a difficult life is with her. Its good idea to re-post again because your this frame is better detailed and illuminated. Ever pixel square of her face is full with life. Congratulations.

Best Regards,

Parbo

bieszczad (141) 2006-10-18 8:46

Hi David
I like the face of that old women. Good portrait picture, maybe lacking a bit of sharpness, but still very good picture.
Greetings
Tomek

zips (1958) 2006-10-18 9:50

I like the composition of the original photograph better for a book or magazine, but this might be a better "wall hangable" shot.

I think is is a toss up.

Great Job.
Aloha, JB

John_F_Kennedy (43797) 2006-10-18 11:35

A very impressive pic. Wonderful macro.
Achim

cunejo200 (7281) 2006-10-18 15:21

Hi David,
Impressive capture of this woman. Reminds me of MAnny's Rosalinda series. I wonder how this would look in b&w? Best wishes. Danilo

delkoo (68) 2006-10-18 15:24

hi david
impressive face with deep wrinkles, it show us that life did not have to be easy for this old and cute woman.
well done
didier

bleung (282) 2006-10-18 22:30

This is an extraordinary picture. You were able to capture this old lady's sense of calm and peace. I like the wrinkles which were so deep and clear etching on her face. Those reflected her life experience and history.
Betty

AiresSantos (56155) 2006-10-19 3:35

Magnificent portrait, my friend !
Very nice expression in the face of this old woman. Excellent perspective and colours.
TFS and greetings,
Aires

PixelTerror (0) 2006-10-19 4:28

Hi David,
Oh you visited Bhutan, it's one of the countries I have not visited that fascinates me most ! Your PP work on that repost actually did improve it but as far as framing is concerned the wide angle lover in me prefers the first version, optimal combination for my taste would be original angle with RP PP.
Have a nice day,
Jean-yves

tonyking (1612) 2006-10-19 6:28

Hi David,
Without uttering a word, this weathered, characterful face says so much. You've captured this image so well. Besides being good technically, you've also done a good job of creating a nice feeling of calm with your composition and the depth of focus.
Excellent work, my friend.

Best wishes,
Tony

andreng (265) 2006-10-19 10:38

David,
The lines on her face facinates me much. A good job done from the original. At first I thought how you could get such a good DOF from a aperture setting of F5.6. After reading more and looking at the original I understood. She definitely has had a hard life and has weathered the elements greatly. Those were clearly apparent from this shot.
cheers.

vagabondtravels (6511) 2006-10-19 21:11

Hi David

Good portrait. You have really capture an interesting character here with a long history.
Well done.
Ben

wolf38 (30) 2006-10-20 11:35

Hello David. A particularly impressive photo and a good text in addition. The face of the old woman is like a landscape of the life. It works clarified, in addition, tiredly. The picture is really worth seeing and very good. Many greetings, Wolfgang.

fireflyz (2097) 2006-10-20 13:01

Hi David,
It's amazing what time can do to a pretty face! I like the cropping. TFS..

isabib (1953) 2006-10-20 17:10

Hi David,

Great portrait shot. I saw the original version and you cropped just right to remove the other distractions. TFS!

devimeuxbe (58557) 2006-10-21 2:59

Hi David
Beautifull portrait. Excellent sharpness. I like how you get the light on this old skin. The glance of this woman is also interesting.
Well done
Bertrand

Clairedelune (4923) 2006-10-22 13:58

I can't deny that I find her very beautiful. It is such a sad thing that we, in western society, have so much difficulty with old age. Sometimes, seeing my old mother and the women in her building (never saw a man there!), I am always surprised by what they are and how they look. I may be totally wrong, but I find that their face show more what they truly are than an unlined face. It's easier to find real kindness or the real grump!
I think this is an improved version of the original. I have to say though, that I like close portrait! And here is my question with this photo. You were kind of far from her and she was sleeping. I always feel ill at ease to take that kind of photos. A few days ago, I read that opinion of Jerzy Bucki. I'm not saying that I agree, it just that I am more confused than anything. I was just curious to have your opinion on that. I'm attracted by photographing people, but that brings me tons of questions! Maybe I should go back to photography landscapes or do macro! Flowers and bees never bother you with ethical questions. Though some can bite!
By the way, I think I have a slight preference for your B&W version. The grain? I like it! As long as it is not the color noise, I'm fine!
Claire

oochappan (4880) 2006-10-23 11:22

Very nice tight shot of the lifelines so much to tell of this old lady David. I compared with the original and there you got more quality and good including of the background in OOF, I did a WS to see if that one could stand next to this crop where you loose a bit a of the quality.
Henk

[workshop] [compare] +

Burberry1 (6041) 2006-10-24 9:09

Excellent close-up!!
Perfect light and details!!!

Greetings from Poland, Agnieszka

elmec (12210) 2006-10-25 16:16

Hello David!
Excellent portrait!
It's very hard for me!
Good done!
Best regards!

kensimage (8563) 2006-10-25 20:36

A very nice image of serenity, David. The framing is good with just a bit of background to suggest that context does exist, she's not entirely in her own world. That earring is a nice accent. I'm not sure if it's the NearImage or what, but the shot does have a slightly overprocessed look, most noticeable in the blurred background. But it's an effective shot. Regards, Ken.

jafadabret (56501) 2006-10-27 15:19

Un visage comme celui-ci, David, en dit long sur la vie sûrement pénible de cette femme. L'éclairage naturel rend toutes les rides évidentes. Un très beau portrait !
Jacques

ben4321 (9875) 2006-10-28 5:37

A good tight crop, and the side lighting has brought out the detail and texture in her face beautifully.
A face full of character that shows the traces of a hard but dignified existence.
Good work.
Ben

everlasting (19680) 2006-10-30 3:48

While I like tight portraits as here, I think I would have liked to see a little more of her her, but saying that the colours and the skin tones are very well done, the light washing her sleeping face is terrific.

prumod (8300) 2006-11-03 4:34

hi david,
you could captured her thoughts perfectly... the wringles due to the loads of memories are wonderful...
as a photo its ingradients are wonderful...
greetings
pramod

riclopes (35577) 2006-11-09 3:12

Olá David, this old beautiful face immediately attracted my eyes. Her wrinkles make it so expressive. I like your crop and the pp that you made is excellent. I love it.
Cheers,
Ricardo

AnaFrantz (636) 2006-11-10 13:44

BEUTIFULL PORTRAIT...the marks of life in her face could tell many histories, fairy tales, lessons...

Very beutifull and sensitive work!

mdetay (4929) 2006-11-19 2:06

Hi David,
Nice picture of this old woman.
Excellent colors.
Well done.
Cheers from Cairns.
Michel

brevbrev14 (140) 2006-12-04 3:49

Hi David, what a great work here!!
i love to see the sign of the life in this woman...
And you made a great work with your composition!!!
ABSOLUTELY GREAT WORK!

and thenks a lot for your kindly words on my photo...I appreciate a lot.. :)

CIAO!
Valeria

Silvio1953 (220605) 2006-12-04 17:12

Hi David, great portrait, in the face of this woman is written a history of a life, very well done, ciao Silvio

scalerman (26900) 2006-12-05 12:00

David: I find this fine portrait a bit noisy. I guess you ran NeatImage on it, but I would have thought it would have done a better job. I, like so many on TE, have been spoiled by Luko's sharpening script. Give it a test next time:

- USM : effect 18, radius 40, threshold 0
- USM : effect 150 radius 0.3, threshold 0
- edit/fade USM, 100%, darken blend mode,
- USM : effect 150 radius 0.3, threshold 0
- edit/fade USM, 50%, brighten blend mode.

all the best, c

sebcz (2345) 2006-12-10 3:42

Hi David!
What a face. Many years have shaped it. Good work!
Regards,
Seb

bantonbuju (51815) 2006-12-20 2:38

oh, man, this is GOOD!
love this closeup, unbelievable details range, if an earth could be reflected in man's face - this is it! years, generations could be seen here, i can imagine that every single detail means a different bit of history...
a REAL portrait,
best, j.

sergio1 (12152) 2006-12-27 6:31

Hi David

I love this portrait, very nice expression and face to old woman. Magnific focus and sharpness.

Well done

Merry Xmas and Happy new year.
Sergio

hoorge (1434) 2007-01-03 11:58

Excellent portrait of a life. Good note as well. Good close-up shot depicting emotion, facial expression, and details. Good composition.

touristdidi (8583) 2007-01-07 10:24 [Comment]