SuKai Loc: California

Laguna Beach, CA an elderly gentleman with tattered cloths is relaxing and reading the news. He saw me shooting him and thought my lens was going to send us to space. I said Yes it will, I smiled and wished him a nice day.

(Download)

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Love the composition and B/W was a must!

Pierre H.J. Dumais Loc: Mississippi Mills, Ont.

I like it Sue.
My preference would be to give it a touch more impact, some call it punch. The image might benefit with more contrast -- not a lot, so be gentle. In other words, some, not much, of the darker grey could be almost black. His beard could be a little whiter.
You might also try a tad more sharpening. At the same time, camera far left and camera far right could be blurred a bit so the eye would concentrate more on him, the paper and the bench.
But, it's a nice shot and very much worth another try
Be happy. You've got a good one.
Pierre

SuKai Loc: California

Thank you Dave,
I agree I prefer the B&W over color for most Street Photography.

SuKai Loc: California

Thank you Pierre, I agree I looked at it after the upload and it lacks that "punch" I think it needs. I will take your suggestions and try to see if I can apply what you suggest Maybe I'll try Lightroom and see if that would make a difference. I edited most of it in Camera Raw then PS.

Voss

A great photo. That guy has character, and the composition is great. Technically, Pierre said it all.

SuKai Loc: California

Thanks Voss. I really like unique people I am sure he had stories to tell.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

I really enjoy some good critique! Adds to the value of the site!

SuKai Loc: California

Ok, I reworked according to DaveO's suggestions, I hope I didn't spotlight him to much. I did notice that in the original once I compared them side by side that I had made him the darkest part of the picture, which I didn't intend to do. So I darkened the background and added dodge & burn to specific spots plus more sharpening on him. I also added the blur on the sides and parts of the top to minimize the plants from distracting the eye.

(Download)

SuKai Loc: California

P.S. It has to be downloaded. I noticed that it still looks blurry until I did the download and then it looks like what I see on my computer.

Pierre H.J. Dumais Loc: Mississippi Mills, Ont.

Pierre

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Now that is really interesting. The thumbnail display, both with the original and the edit, is vastly different than the download. And the download also comes in increments, with the first one being approximately what the thumbnail displays.

As a result I was totally confused about what the image was until I downloaded it and looked at it in an editor. I like the basic composition, but think it needs a lot of "manipulation". That's because it is a bit busy, with to much attracting a viewer's attention to no purpose.

It is also significantly oversharpened, which has the same effect. Too much attention ends up focused on every thread and pattern in his clothing, not to mention in the rocks and the vegetation behind him.

So I was thinking that a couple of simple edits to mask off part of the image to darken and give a slight blur to everything but the guy's face... except when I started working on it I blew it and got the masking wrong. Instead of starting over I just divided things up into several masked off areas and did each separately. So basically I diddled just about every part of it separately! I was a little bit astounded at the results too.

I won't post a full sized version, just a thumbnail. This is not meant to replace your images. It's meant as an example of one thing that can be done. It represents nothing particular other than what I like.

SuKai Loc: California

Thanks to all for all the comments and suggestions, I like the darker as well Apaflo. It is interesting how many different versions one can make with just one image. I shoot in RAW and I don't downsize images when I save them in the JPEG format, maybe that is what makes the different between the original and the download.

travelwp Loc: New Jersey

Nice shot.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

I think it is still too dark and lacks a fuller tonal range. LR will not give you anymore than PS will. You do not need both and depending upon the original file, you might have been able to do the whole thing in LR. Funny how someone took a Magic Marker and wrote on the bench between edits. Prefer it without the graffiti. This is a really good photo and could use some more TLC. I would have preferred more of the garbage can, a sad counterpoint, and less of the out-of-focus brick on the right.

Thanks for posting this nice picture. No significant unwanted elements. Like how you got the right "pose". Compositionally, this picture works for me. The developing does not but that is just my opinion.