Over There

I was sitting on a bench in D.C. and saw this guy walking across the mall area. something, maybe a combination of good looks and curiosity about what he was pointing at made me snap this quick photo. I'm curious to know what you think? is it too dark and is the contrast too much or too little?

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Originally Posted by echoback

I was sitting on a bench in D.C. and saw this guy walking across the mall area. something, maybe a combination of good looks and curiosity about what he was pointing at made me snap this quick photo. I'm curious to know what you think? is it too dark and is the contrast too much or too little?

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First of all, I'd personally crop the right side of the picture to turn this into a sqare frame.
I'd do this because I think that there is an interesting relationship betwen the guy and the two persons nearly in front of him (in the background) who seem to look right at him, but the right side of the picture has nothing to do with this.
Also, I think that you should try a level adjustment (assuming that you have Photoshop or a similar software). I wouldn't say that the shadows areas are too dark but the highlights seems muted so there is definately something to do about it.
I see potential in your picture but I believe that few tweaks would enhance it.

regards

Seb

hey Seb, thanks for the suggestions! I adjusted the level about 1.80 and increased contrast +20. plus the crop of course. don't know why I didn't see that initially lol. how does this look?

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Originally Posted by echoback

hey Seb, thanks for the suggestions! I adjusted the level about 1.80 and increased contrast +20. plus the crop of course. don't know why I didn't see that initially lol. how does this look?

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I think that the crop is excellent. Better than the one I would imagine actually. However the picture looks somewhat washed out now.

Seb

Echo - I like the crop better, but there's still a heck of a lot of distracting clutter in the background. Not sure if you had time to maneuver around though - you'd have missed the shot if you did. I agree with Seb that the contrast or something seems to be off. Unfortunately, I can't suggest anything to fix it.

This guy seems to be thinking about something and then acting it out (a little strange...... ) Downtown DC has a lot of this, it seemed. This looks like the Mall area btw.

GB

seb-thanks! i am not sure about what happened with the composition though. i tried it about five different times, starting from the original and then adjusting the level a little bit each time. i'll just have to play around with it a bit more, B&W is hard to get right sometimes for me because I don't think I have a properly trained eye yet. i'll get there sooner or later lol. :)

GB-yep, the guy was walking fast across the Mall, so I just kind of pointed and shot. I could attempt to clone some of that out, but that may best be left to a time when I am more comfortable using the cloning tool hehe. i love people-watching in D.C. you get some strange ones LOL

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Originally Posted by echoback

i love people-watching in D.C. you get some strange ones LOL

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.. then you ought to try the California beach areas... you'd be in paradise. :eek:

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Originally Posted by echoback

hey Seb, thanks for the suggestions! I adjusted the level about 1.80 and increased contrast +20. plus the crop of course. don't know why I didn't see that initially lol. how does this look?

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I like this crop but like Seb said it stills need some help. I think adjusting the curves in Photoshop should make it less washed out.

i like this image, and it cant be better for the situation (quick snap) but i feel there is too much in the background, but the crop does help it out a lot. overall i think its a good picture

thanks for the comments freygr and godfather!

GB-haha, i bet I would :) i've been there once, but unfortunately i didn't have my camera with me. oh well, next time!