Woman waiting for the metro

Woman waiting for the metro

Woman waiting for the metro

This image was taken in the NY subway after a long wait this past summer 2007. Platforms are perticularly hot in this season, and I was trying to capture this heat feeling in the subway. This shot is very opportunistic, which is not surprising for a street shot. The woman just stepped in front of me when I was trying to shoot the train coming from the right in the station. I did not ask for anything, the opportunity came by itself.

I somehow really consider this pic as a portrait more than a regular candid or street shot. And even if the portrait is from “the back”, I find it very expressive and characteristic anyway. Now everybody will see something different in this picture. As far as I am concerned, I saw the strength of a culture, standing still. The character is not moving, but expecting. The flag, the country, the state is passing by, blurred, it is a moving target. This “back” is very strong, very powerful. this is the strength of a woman, this is the strength of an afro-american woman. The hair are very characteristic as well, and of course, there is a strong symbolic with the blurred american flag in the background. Just…blurred and passing by. People stay eventually…

As far as the technics are concerned, at start, back at home, I liked the picture, but found it was rather flat and lacking of intensity. This is really after post-processing that this picture revealed all its possibilities, by applying simply a semi-transparent layer with soft light blending mode. Progressively, using layers, I worked on the image

  1. To “mute” colors and provide an overall color cast/mood
  2. To emphasize texture and contrast in the skin/hair
  3. I accentuated the motion blur as well…it was optional actually since it was already pretty much blurred.
  4. Eventually I sharpened a bit

Here we are. This is really one of my first attempt to output something decent after post-processing in photoshop. After something like an hour or so, I really “developped” the picture.

So the morality is : well, be indulgent with yourself when reviewing your shots. Don’t trash everything. Don’t forget if you shoot “raw” that the picture must be post processed, at least a few. If you like a picture, that is not top notch at start, try playing with some basic parameters like accentuating the contrast, or applying a B&W filter, or a basic curve, or… There is no real receipe, but it worth experimentating with all your shots you find “OK” at start, they might reveal a very decent shot later on. Also what I strongly suggest is to keep the pictures at least for a few days, and come back on them, on a different mood, with a different approach or idea. A lot of things are revealed this way!

More Subway pictures here : Subway Photo Gallery