Proud

Looks great Linda.....I like her noble pose and expression. The tint is ok but hides the colorful costume and I'm not crazy about the border. I do like the clarity and sharpness so you can see the detail that goes into their clothing. I love going to these events.

Fred

Linda...  Good shot.  I think the sepia tone gives this a nostalgic look that goes well with the subject.  With a different background, or severely darken this one, this would be timeless... Mike

Excellent work Linda.  Sepia tones give this great portrait an aged look.  Really well done - regards - michel 

Very well captured  and converted, Linda. However, just for the exercise I would give it a try with a different bg as Michael suggested above.  Fine work anyway. Compliments!

excellent shot, very good portrait with great bw

Great portrait, very original with great light and tone, wishing you all of the best.

Linda,

  Beautiful portrait with wonderful processing. Take care, Patsy

A skillfully managed  composition with great details. Best regards.

Magnifico retrato. Excelente composicion y expresion captada con una estupenda exposicion y sensacional monocromo. ++

Un cordial saludo -Tolo.

Wonderful portrait! The sepia makes me think of a bygone era many years ago. The complexity of her costume makes me curious as to what a full color version would look like. It certainly would create a different emphasis other than "Proud" if you did do it in color. So again, wonderful the way it is!

I like sepia selection  for this particular shot. It work well and make it as old style photo. Well done.

Thank you everyone for the comments and advice. This young lady changed before my eyes from a giggling teen to dignified noble woman when she posed. I like the colour version but the sepia seemed to bring out the strong feeling of pride that I see in these young dancers. The colour version seems to detract from her amazing face and expression. Here's the original in colour. Best wishes, Linda

Thanks for providing the original color version. I think your toned version looks really great. You've brought her and her outfit out beautifully and she stands apart from the crowd behind her strongly. I see potential in using color here as well, though would be hard-pressed myself to decide which way to go, especially with the nice job you did on the black and white. The color offers a vibrancy that could really be brought out. I think the skin tone could be mellowed and worked with so that it seemed more organic than what I'm seeing in the original, which may be partially a matter of lighting and partially a matter of white balance. But all in all a nice foray for you into making a portrait. She dominates the frame here.

It is really interesting to be able to compare both original and the sepia tinted version. Although the colour version is vibrant and exciting, I have to place my vote with the sepia tinted version. I agree with Michaels comment that suggests a nostalgic look, for me it does indeed. I would also say that the skin tones appear more natural and the costume detail is more apparent in the sepia version.  You have caught a great expression of pride here and the overall effect is magnetic!

Well done Linda!

Regards

Alf

Great tonal range & details, perfect contrast, wonderful rendering for nice story!    Best regards

It's quite a lovely and striking image.   Although the color version could make quite a fine image as well, there is a strength to this version.  I would think this could be a wonderful image to be used in some of the First Nations promotional information and brochures....you should send it to someone. In this case, however, I'd probably try to darken the background to focus more on her. 

Christal, I agree with everything you say except darkening the background. I think this would make a wonderful documentary piece or a photo to accompany text or show part of a story, for sure. I think the background being as dark as it is already actually draws attention to itself. I think if it were in more simple balance with the foreground figure the background would actually lose some of its presence here. I think the contrast, in this case, is making it quite prominent. I often notice that including a background (which I love to do in portraits) and then trying to hide it makes less sense than allowing it its appropriate place and letting the subject relate to it and not fight with it. The lighting is so beautiful on the subject here. If some beauty of lighting (particularly because of the windows in the back) were happening in the background, though still subdued, of course, I think that could work exceptionally well. Any possibility in that for you?

I totally see your point, and to be honest, I'd probably need to see it both ways before I could tell for sure which I'd prefer.  I actually am not opposed to the stripes of light above, nor am I bothered by the general background with the more distance people in the stands.  And in general, I love seeing the context of an image.  But the man at her right cheek, to my mind, competes with her.  And as for the darkness of the background....  I think its darkness is partially the reason for the radiance of her skin and garb.  I think the contrast enhances that wonderful skin tone and her dark penetrating eyes.  So it makes for interesting discussion nevertheless, and there is no doubt Linda has a powerful portrait here. 

yes,,,,this is important,,,,and we have been too self-assured,,,,,remarkable,,,,document,,best niels

THank you everyone.

I am touring my visiting relatives around and haven't had much time for my Photo.net friends. I am going to make some comments when I have some more time. Hope you all are having a great summer.

Lovely Linda, love the sepia!!