Peaceful Kyrgyz Nut Vendor
Dordoy Open Market, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - Sony a7riii, Sony GM 24-70 f2.8 lens. (f/2.8, 24mm, ISO640, 1/125sec)
This man, and consequently his photo, would be mundane to anyone in Central Asia. However, imagining passing this man and his cart near my home in San Diego, California, is impossible. He was exceedingly kind to me in our short interaction, allowing me to snap this, gifting me a toothless smile. He understood I was no threat. Always a foreigner, often with a giant camera, I encounter all sorts of reactions. For some reason, market vendors generally hate it, so I don't expect much going in with my large rig. Most markets in the former USSR prohibit them. I have ideas as to why.
This particular market claims to be the largest in the landmass of Asia/Russia/Europe. I don't know if it is, since many others along my trip also made the same claim. This one was the largest I have seen, though. See the corners of the blue containers? Those are stacked a few high and snake for miles. The ground's muddy but everything's cheap and you'll never be bored. Wish I could have stayed in the area longer than the few days I did. I will return. In the meantime, I have this souvenir: if I made this photo black and white, were it not for the plastic bags, modern tires, digital scale, and maybe the zippers, you might have thought it was from a hundred years ago. You might just accept it as such anyway: timeless.
Straight Out of Camera:
❶ Crop
· I cut out most of the unnecessary information from the edges. I wish that lady in red was gone as well but can't go any further without cutting into the man or his cart. I also resent the extra empty space to the bottom right. At least he's looking that way, as if inviting the viewer over. Ideally, I should have cropped with my feet. This photo doesn't sit so well with me regarding framing and lines but has other value. Plus, it's street photography, not studio. Can bend the rules a bit.
❷ Raise Clarity/Sharpening
· Adding Sharpening (+73) and Clarity (+30) goes well with my style, especially from gritty areas like this. Helps that it's a photo of an older man and his cart's contents have a lot of detail. Were it a wedding couple kissing with a buttery bokeh backdrop, I wouldn't do this.
➌ Lift Exposure/Shadows; Drop Whites, Blacks
· Lifted Exposure(+60)/Shadows(+100) to reveal more of the image that the RAW captured.
· Dropped Whites (-34) and Blacks (-33). Perhaps there's a better formula for this photo, but that's just how it played out. Nudging the sliders in different directions, once it's right, no sense in going back and changing to even it all out. Just leave it and move on. Life's too short.
➍ Raise Vibrance, Saturation, Dehaze
· Vibrance (+62), Saturation (+5), Dehaze (+34). The scene was dark, the colors pretty moot. Adding color breathes life in. This felt like it could use some. Plus the colors were there already, hiding.
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