Oh, NO! Scotch leaves a longer "reminder" sensation when similarly expelled!

Viewing in Download is magnificent!

The Original Black Background! Nice!!!
C

I suspect your hope is safe with these ladies.

A very nice composition and it tells a nice story.
C

Thanks, Paul for the informative textual story and the heart stirring visual story. I can hear the sound of Freedom, now. Timely, I might add.

This ream is not an easy subject to capture as well as you have. I've been able to get a few images in film from the times I have seen them, mostly in San Francisco.
C

I always try to stay safe while viewing posted photos in download. For better or not!

I echo PIX, why????

The last time I saw a "poll" here it was from that annoying troll we haven't heard from in a long while.

Thanks, Paul. These are magnificent examples of the variety of choices we had of emulsions and tehir renderings back in the Film DAZE!

Good luck with the Blues,
C

1. Bless the Audubon Ranger.
2. Damn the image grabbers. They're not photographers. Photographers respect their subjects.
3. Perhaps the mere suggestion of a minimum Focal length on local signage would induce enough GAS in the affluent interlopers to go buy the $2,000 Tele/Gimbal/tripod rig, and keep their distance.
4. A perfect example if the unintended consequences of the ignorant well meaning populace. "lovin' 'em to death, is a common outcome, both in nature and in woke society.

I shoot RAW+JPEG. I have my jpeg on monochrome, so it shows in my DSLR screen in B&W, as Quix does, to help me visualize in tones and shapes without the distraction of color and the mental delay of approximating what shades of, say, greed translate into density (sorry for using an old darkroom term) of gray or nearly black. Same for reds.

Then I convert the RAW file into B&W either with Lightroom's facility, or, most often, manipulating sliders toward the values I know will translate into my visualized B&W image. I then complete the conversion using the NIC package.

That makes me feel better working for my Surveyor dad at about the same rate at the same time. Now my grandson is working for his Surveyor dad, which makes him a 5th generation surveyor, since my dad worked for his Surveyor dad, about 100 years ago.

OP: It is a wonderfully produced image that evokes a nostalgia, yet reminds us, if built well, buildings house the future.
Thanks,
C

If you have a flippy screen you can peek to square the shot up pretty surreptitiously. I also afree with Demmis, shooting wider gets more keepers. I love the ones you have shoed us. A Flea Market, in many cases, is closer to a traditional street as we're likely to find in our strip mall world.

Thanks for sharing a slice of the day.
C

Switzerland is a dream. I love how these remarkably independent and industrious people manage their quaint villages and have preserved an excellent way of life while at the same time rank as one of the wealthiest and productive countries in the world. Can't wait to get back!
C

Three possibilities:
OS wasn't switched on. OR the shot was focused and re-composed and the Shutter release over-rode focus lock.

Deeper depth of field was required--more than f4 could deliver @ 70mm on an APS-C sensor.

Minimum focus distance wasn't met. On my Canon copy of the Sigma 17-70 C it is 0.72 feet which equals 8.64 inches. Unless this flower was particularly small, I wonder if the camera and the lens was that close--considering that the minimum dimension is from the focus plane to the Sensor. My 17-70 on a Canon EOS 77D leaves 2" between the subject and the objective element of the lens. That's without the hood. With the hood, the lens would have been forced the camera beyond the minimum distance. But, handholding that close may have been achieved by dictating an awkward camera holding and body position and caused some instability beyond the excellent Sigma OS's ability.

I don't see any obvious hints of camera movement or shake like streaking. However, sometimes movement in and out, not laterally doesn't show the tell tale streaks.

As far as contrast goes, That center magenta vs the white petal would give my rig enough contrast to lock a good focus.

Sometimes cropping isn't the sin many make it out to be.

Lots of good guidance here, keep trying. An immediate rear screen check, magnified a few times should confirm a sharp exposure.
C

Especially when "faced" with a mask, the full "rumpled" nature of this subject reveals itself in B&W. I know part of the gain is in the emphasis of shadows in the conversion. LOVE it!
C

"...................Alas, big boy; The Poison Pill is for Thee."

Irony rocks!
C