Working the Fields
The colorful dress of this woman was probably the thing that attracted the photographer’s attention to this scene. I like the subject’s placement in the left hand third of the image with plenty of room to continue into the frame. The green vegetables and stocks of grain give a nice repeating pattern through the photo. The fact that she has a reaper in on hand and leaves in the other tells us she is working the field and not just passing through it.
The soil appears to be white sand and lacks tone or texture that results in a washed out appearance to the image. I would recommend darkening the print as much as possible and cropping out some of the foreground to lessen the effect of the bleached out soil.
Click on Image
Cropped 
Modified per reader comments 3% 
Mofified per reader comments 50% 
December 12th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
To bring out the tone and texture of the soil and vegetation I suggest using the ’sponge tool’ in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Choose a mottled brush, saturate, and about 3%, use the sponge in a washing motion just as if you were cleaning a painting, you’ll be amaxed at the results!
December 13th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Per your recommendation I did some experimenting with this photographer’s image. First I used a 3% sponge but I did not see much difference in the saturation of either the plants or the soil. Then I went wild and used 50% saturation. This made a big difference in the plants but did nothing for the soil. I guess this just shows if there is no information in the image you aren’t going to bring up what is not here to begin with.