The rice field 1

China is a beautiful place.

 

I would love to see a less saturated version.

 

At first I didn't like the cant, but it is growing on me. It seems to be without purpose, but I guess it is OK.

 

Keith

Just a thought, take some of the yellow out of this image. The poor lady looks like she needs treatment.

 

Love the composition though. The angle makes the image IMO.

 

Dave

As others have said, the overly tweaked and saturated colors in this shot remove the reality of it. For me, at any rate. Although the boy appears to be moving, he looks pasted into the shot. The horizon line of the rice field is so straight and even, it looks as if it's been cut with a mowing machine...and it's so perfectly green. The woman appears to be simply posing in the act of rice harvesting or planting or whatever she's doing.

I get no feeling for the people in this shot, nor of the intensive labor of working in rice fields.

This really reminds me of nothing more than a poster you might see in the office of a travel agent, or along the walkways in airports.

There should have been a slight blue cast in the reflection to show the digitally blue filter of the sky -- to be consistent.

 

Still a pretty picture.

I like the picture even though I think the saturation is a bit up. It lends a cartoonish quality that belies the dignity of the woman. I like the fact that you have tilted it so that she is essentially upright and the world askance. I think it gives dignity to her hard back breaking work.

There is a lot to like here. Different approaches have been used, but with restraint. I like the kid leaving the frame. It works for me (with the tilt) because it's hard to beat a triangle within a triangle for geometric drama in your photo. That's always a goal with my Polaroids. And while the running action helps balance the subjects, the running-away emphasizes the (her) isolation.

The colors are NOT over-saturated, even though much of the white and all of any black pixels seem absent, the colors are rendered with a perfect color temperature at a time of day when that would be near impossible. Despite the oddity, these colors all look very accurate to me. The grass color is truly bright, and 'removing the jaundice' just turns the clayish ground into sand and removes any hint of sunrise/set, (essential to the degree of labor involved).

This studio-level lighting control in the field (whether fill-flashed to unnatural perfection or PSed) reminds me of the posterized Soviet-era Workers in their Glory; very strong and undeniable. Yet here, not only is the anonymous matriarch bent to her back-breaking task (where's the bag/basket?), but the road has been artificially sloped uphill.

The harder you have to work, the more of your day you must devote to survival, The greater is the impact upon you of the forces outside your control.

That's the irony for me; the woman appears to us in HDTV, her effort air-brushed away; but some insider has tripped up the propaganda machine and the terrible truth is shown. Her struggle is revealed, but subversively.

Or maybe, it's just somebody's Mother-in-Law.

Having submitted my response and then looked at the other comments I see many feel this picture is over-saturated. I too have felt the pull; the seductive saturation slider. And one gets the sense that the absolute max has been pulled from these pixels, given that sky.

Still, I do not see anything (hat, hand, cloth), that, were it's real-life counterpart to be held up in the foreground lighting I see here, that I would think would stand as the more saturated of the two. I have seen lots of that color grass.

And I'm wondering how our monitors differ. How about a registry where evryone dialed in certain color parameters to ensure they all saw the same image?

What's the difference between over-saturated and Uniformally saturated?

I can't help myself. It looks like digitally rendered picture. I don't think this is the right treatment for this type of photograph. On the other hand the color treatment is impressive.

i think tnat the aberration of the image is exceeded. color... digital. even it?s so nice that you were there to take it.

First of all- thanks to the Elves for choosing my picture for photography of the week.I didn't expect at all, have so many great pictures on this page!

 

Second- this picture is photoshop manipulated, the sky is shooted in the same place about 2 hours after I shoot the woman, I replaces the original burned one with the sunset one.

 

The woman and the child I didn't retouch at all, I only played with the colors a little bit.

 

Don't have studio light but I used the buit-in flash.

 

Thanks to those, who said that can put this in the wall of his house, this is a very big compliment for me and thanks to all who write comments!

I don't understand.... Why amazing photos have to be categorized into either manipulated or not manipulated?? It's a damn good image and I don't care if it is photoshoped or flashed or or or...

Great angle, great colours (although too yellowed) great atmosphere...

Well done my friend!!

maybe that is where the artificial look comes from.. the light is from straight up on the ladies back. and the light in the sky is not from the same angle. I makes it all look like a studio shot. It is a very artificial look but still a good image. I still like it.

Wonderful photo. I like the way you moved the camera to put the woman in the standing position. It is difficult to keep the eyes on the photo without trying to put the horizon in the horizontal position. Congratulations Atanas. 7/7

Very nice composition and color

The angle is magnificent and so is overall the photography. The saturation you have chosen I like it. I find no weakness to this image. Yes, her flesh might be different from the "ordinary" but IMO does nothing bad to the image. Unless, you could only with the magic wand enhance the water and leave the flesh its natural color. Nevertheless, a beautifull image.

First, I like the tilted angle. It breaks a typical horizontal shot nicely. As a viewer I feel like I'm in the water next to the woman.

Second, the upper half is predominately blue and the lower half yellow green. The yellow hat in the blue sky adds interest. Nice job photoshopping the sky to the scene. Third, as for the yellow color cast, it would be better to half the effect. Turn it down slightly.

Overall, an engaging shot- nicely done...

I love the light and the hat! Particularly that the face of the person in front can't be seen.

 

I would cut away some water at the bottom. It looks dirty. The other part of the image looks so fresh.

 

Excellent capture!

I would not put this on wall. It's a nice picture with unusual composition that has been ruined by an unrealistic colour scheme. Adding colour for its own sake does not improve a shot.

look right, especially in contrast to the bright reflections in the water. I am not too happy about the color manipulation either. Perhaps this would be a great experiment for B&W. The angled composition is interesting. Regards.

I like the composition. The eye always goes back to the hat. It also does a nice job of

showing the sky and earth with a thin green link. This photo could easily be a book cover.

Your typical viewer will not catch the unnatural light or saturated colors. A successful

photograph.

I like the slant, and I love the angle of the shot. While I really like the way the the yellow hat balances the yellow mud, I do agree with some of the others who said the yellow is just a bit too saturated. I think a relatively slight desaturation would bring this picture 'together'. I also agree that there is something a bit too artificial about the shot; the sky doesn't quite match the rest of the picture, but I think that toning down the yellow would go a long way in resolving that as well. I like the kid, just for the fact that he occupies a spot that might be too empty without him there. Just my humble opinion. Overall, I like the picture, it really grabs your attention and stands out. Congrats!

I don't mind the alteration by adding a better sky, this image has been saved because of this.

But the color has way too much yellow in it. I liked the color edit that was posted and hope

you consider toning down the yellow to be more natural skin-tone wise.

 

Nice shot and nice save ;D

i very much preferred the second posting of your image by another contributor who had taken the yellow cast from the image. In the original picture the sky did look very artificial and there was too much artificial light coming on the back of the woman from up above.

I just want to reply to the last guy, who don't like the yellow in the picture.

I specially play to make the down side to look gold, this was the whole idea of the picture. Without the yellow it just look some durty water:)

I don't care is it looking artificial, I only care do I like the things I do.

I didn't know that anybody will like my picture, I make it for my self in the way I like it, I appriciate somebody else share my taste!

Actually I even wanted to be a little bit more yellow.

 

I am very happy that my pic provoque so many discussions, especially that so many people cannot accept the colours, because it is too hard for them, that means what I did is just too extraordinary, but not that is is ugly:)

 

Thanks for all the comments, positive or negative and for your time!

If you focus on the bright hues of blue and green, or on the tones in the hat, I do not see the excessive yellow. The colors may have been boosted a touch overall but the yellow, to me, looks like it's there because it's there.