This is Laure Ducos who, together with Maurice Spitz, performs Mediterranean and middle-eastern music and song from the middle ages under the name of Zyria. This is the promised follow-on from yesterday's 365 posting featuring Maurice on the Oud - a medieval stringed instrument.
I think this image required more editing than any other I have posted on 365. The lighting in the Abbey at the end of a sunny afternoon, is very difficult as the dynamic range far exceeds that of any camera sensor. There are also colour casts from the light pouring through the stained glass windows and, if that wasn't enough, there are three different types of lighting in the Abbey, each with a very different colour temperature. I'm not even going to mention the mixed backgrounds!
These are the reasons that my shots of Abbey concerts are often in B&W - colour is usually only feasible after dark when there is only the Abbey's mixed lighting to deal with. But I so wanted to picture Laure in her stunning red dress that I persevered and after trying with a dozen different images, I finally arrived at this one which is the best I can make it. I quite like it, and I hope you do too.
@joansmor I edited this one image three separate times in LR, three separate times in PS CC and once in Color Efex Pro 2! There were burned out higlights that I had to clone out; several local colour temperature adjustments to make - her hair had a green cast for instance and a lot of clutter in the background. I dealt with that by applying a 20 pixel radius blur to the whole image and then painting 70% of it out on Laure herself. It's far from perfect, but it's a lot better than what I started with!
A beautiful portrait and the red dress needed to be showcased, so color works wonderfully - despite your ton of editing - for which we are grateful as it truly is lovely!
It is a stunning image. The flute is my favourite instrument. My dad played in a flute band in Ireland. At church I volunteered with the teenage group. One of the girls played the flute and the harp. She read music at York, worked for Cambridge University as musical outreach into schools and is now working at The Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank of the Thames
@ceilidh Thank you Margaret. My daughter plays flute and cello but she also has, and can play, tenor sax, clarinette, oboe, violin and keyboards... all I can play is the fool!
Wonderful clarity and color