Are you sitting comfortably ...

[Clicker]

Then I'l begin....

 

[FUJI]

What a wonderful mono study Polly.....a first class mono.

FUJI

[kev7d]

Love the composition.  A really nice exposure.  Like it.  

[Ryewolf]

Yep, I like this too and I very rarely comment in this section (although I do look at everything being posted) because I don't do many people shots....

[Kobione]

Great unconventional pose Polly, and heaps of detail in the background - perfect for mono too!

[Clicker]

Oh my ...,I am chuffed you like this Fooj , Kev and Rye.. I've been doing some street photography for a while on the quiet but  I  have always felt  a bit  uncomfortable  posting on a public forum  as the  subjects are often unaware  that they are captured  on  camera .    I am always seen locally carrying a camera  so local people are quite used to seeing me snapping away at everything. It is  however even  easier doing it when you are in a place where everyone seems to be carrying a camera  on the tourist trails both here and abroad.. I was going through my pics to see of I had anything  good  enough to submit for the exhibition when I came across this young lady who was perched on a stone in the street near our hotel in Porto a few week  ago ,just reading a book as the rest of the world was rushing past in the early evening  on their way home from work....she seemed almost oblivious to her surroundings ....  I liked the open empty spaces that suddenly appeared around her as I walked towards her ...it felt like the mono theme might suit  best .

 Appreciate your feedback  very much on this one ... Thanks  for that ..

[Craftysnapper]

Very nce Polly I like it.

[Clicker]

Appreciate  your feedback Paul ...  

 I know how I see the image in my head when I am taking it ... Executing it is not always that easy when you have to get the capture quickly  in this genre ..... But I learn  a bit more. every day  in my effort to improve ... 

[Brian]

Lovely pose and composition, Polly, but it's the post processing that makes this a standout for me. Love it!

[CanonChrissy]

This is a fantastic study of people doing what they do. The processing g is spot on. Can you talk me through it?

[Clicker]

Thanks Chrissy ...I dont know if I saved all the layers on this one I will have to check .... i won't remember verbatim unless I  have ... It took me   a couple of hours  though ... Usually I save work on Nik filters  as a recipe but I dont think I did  for this one .. I'll check it out after supper...

[Brian]

15 hours ago, Clicker said:

Thanks Chrissy ...I dont know if I saved all the layers on this one I will have to check .... i won't remember verbatim unless I  have ... It took me   a couple of hours  though ... Usually I save work on Nik filters  as a recipe but I dont think I did  for this one .. I'll check it out after supper...

Just as a matter of interest, do you save your work as a .psd file as well as .jpg, Polly. I must confess I don't, but sometimes wish I had.

[Clicker]

Hi Brian ... The answer is   yes and no ... If I have spent a long time , a number of hours,  processing then I save a copy to include all the layers, ; one, in case I want to change just one or two aspects  of the  image at a later date without  destroying what parts  I want to keep and two,  to be able to reproduce a similar effect on another image if it's a process  not the same as my usual .

You'll know as well as  I do that each photo is unique usually in it's metadata, exposure etc  so it's not often that one  course of manipulation fits all  and very often getting the look that I have in my head  for the finished pic comes with  trial and error of various  buttons and sliders. Sometimes  on the way you find that a combination of  manipulations  results in something quite unexpeced but that  you find really pleasing ...  the chances of remembering how you got to that place  are reduced by the number of permutations you had already tried unsuccessfully  before finding  the right one ;So   if you don't save all the layers on at least some of the images,  with processing that  you are pleased with,  you have to depend on memory  to  do a similar thing again . I have had a look through my files and i  have the layers  on this one ... I may do a before and after  if  I  have time later next week   but Chrissy ... talking you through it may not help with your own photos regarding the decisions made as  each photo is an island so to speak .., and  the  judgement  is made by the artist so to speak . . Do you use  the Nik collection with Photoshop CC Chrissy?

 Out of interest ,here is a resised version of the original pic straight out of the camera ..

[Clicker]

This is the colour version after processing..

..