AFTER - click to view

As I was picking up some printed material at a local print shop,I found myself behind a woman I recognized as the owner of a local Indian restaurant. She was with her daughter and apparently not at all happy with what the sales rep on the other side counter was telling her about the photo they wanted to have enlarged for a backdrop.

THE PROBLEM: What the sales rep was trying to explain to the women was that the extreme shadows on the face of the photographed subject would appear worse after the photo is enlarged. Peeking over the shoulders of the ladies in front of me, I got a better look at what they were talking about. Sure enough, the shadows on the photo were so dark that it caused the subjects nose appeared to be floating. The women desperately needed the photo for an event that weekend, so they insisted that it be enlarged despite the problematic features.

BEFORE

SOLUTION: I happened to have my laptop with me and since editing photos is one of my favorite things to do, I jumped into the conversation with an offer to lighten up the shadows. Since they had nothing to lose, they took me up on the offer and the printer made available a workspace for us to work in. Only took a matter of minutes for me to brighten the face and improve how it would appear on a wide format print.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: While I was working on the photo, the mother told me how this image was going to be the backdrop on a stage for her daughters sweet 16th birthday party. They had even hired  a professional comedian and a live band to perform live in front of a large list of attendees. This was not some simple party. A simple photo of some girl in a parking lot couldn’t do justice for an event like that. Not only that, the shari that was worn by the photo’s subject was so rich with culture, it deserved to have more focus. I told them that I was an artist and asked if they had a bit more time for me to enhance the image a bit more. They permitted me to toy around with the image for another half hour before they had to run off on to other related errands. Though I am sure I could have done a bit more with another half hour and access to the resources in my own studio, I was quite pleased with what I had accomplished in such a short time. What they received in the end was a huge contrast and I’m certain the 16 year old girl was far more appreciative of Bollywood theme being a focal point of her 16th birthday instead of a poorly lit photo taken in a parking lot.