A sophisticated gentleman

[mugge]

This image was a three seconds grab or it was gone. I liked the stance of the gentleman. C&C most welcome.

P8260259-Edit-Edit by Ole Hansen, on Flickr

[Donald]

Brilliant Street Photography. Just a pity about his fashion sense. Those buttons (?) on the upper sleeves of the jacket scream for attention. What do you think about toning them down a bit. There also seems to be a bit of a shadow line running beside his legs - lower and upper legs on the left-hand side and the lower part of the right-hand side.

But the capture of the pose is fantastic.

[Shadowman]

Nice effort, a tighter crop in a 16:9 ratio might help with distracting background, not so much distracting as giving a feeling of incompleteness with the cropped car.

[mugge]

My amended edits.

P8260259-Edit-Edit-Edit-2-Edit by Ole Hansen, on Flickr

[Donald]

My amended edits.

Yep, that improves it, Ole.

Great image. Well done.

[rpcrowe]

Wonderful capture but, my eye keeps going away from the subject to the busy street scene upper image right. What would you think of an even tighter crop than earlier suggested?

[Manfred M]

Definitely well spotted Ole.

Like Richard, I find that there is too much distracting material in the frame. I find that I generally don't find that crops like Richard's work because the aspect ratio is a bit strange (the panorama format turned on its side).

When I initially saw Donald's comments, I thought about Donald's favoured square format, but that did not work, so I went from there finally settling on 5:7. I cropped out enough distracting material on the top and left hand side to focus our attention while still retaining enough of the original story.

A bit more time spend on local adjustments through dodging and burning would be worth considering too.

[LePetomane]

Ole, I like the amended edits. The minimalist nature of Richard's cropped version make it an interesting photo as well but the people across the street from the main subject give it a different perspective.

[Donald]

Let me offer an alternative view to those who've suggested cropping.

The man in the foreground is the subject. Of that there is no doubt, no matter what the crop is. In the original, he is placed in a setting, in a context. It tells us a story. The crop images don't do that, I'd suggest. They focus so hard in on the man (Manfred's suggestion much less so), that the surrounding background information is gone and therefore the story is gone.

[xpatUSA]

Let me offer an alternative view to those who've suggested cropping.

The man in the foreground is the subject. Of that there is no doubt, no matter what the crop is. In the original, he is placed in a setting, in a context. It tells us a story. The crop images don't do that, I'd suggest. They focus so hard in on the man (Manfred's suggestion much less so), that the surrounding background information is gone and therefore the story is gone.

I agree, Donald.

No EXIF to comment on (what?, no numbers?!!) But, given enough time, I would have used a wider aperture and/or focused on the man's back. Sufficiently to slightly blur the median traffic light and to blur progressively more into the distance such that the people, store signs and trees are still recognizable as such but not enough to act as distracting detail.

Not saying that Ole should actually have done that. With no time to ponder such matters, the quick snap beats no snap every time.

P.S., by coincidence, I've been reading today about "Dolly Zooming":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_zoom

Again given the time, the same shot at wider focal length but taken closer would have shrunk the background and even added to the surrealism of the gent's pose and attire ...

[pschlute]

Great capture, a fleeting moment in time.

Agree with Donald here. The subject needs to be in his context. If the capture had not had the car or traffic light pole in it a tighter crop may have worked, but they provide too much distraction in a tight crop. In the wider view, the car and the junction and the people on the other side all are part of the story.

[Manfred M]

Let me offer an alternative view to those who've suggested cropping.

The man in the foreground is the subject. Of that there is no doubt, no matter what the crop is. In the original, he is placed in a setting, in a context. It tells us a story. The crop images don't do that, I'd suggest. They focus so hard in on the man (Manfred's suggestion much less so), that the surrounding background information is gone and therefore the story is gone.

Donald - I agree to an extent, which is why my edit is what it is, rather than Richard's. I find that the story is interesting, but cluttered with uninteresting sidelines. Does the tree on the left add anything to the story, or is it a distraction? The car, traffic light, the two men behind it, the people and signs in the background are all part of the story. I've left those in, but reduced their weight and impact.

Let me throw in an example from the literary world. Publishers used to employ editors to keep the output of the author on track. When unnecessary and confusing elements came up, they would remove them. If the story line was too thin, they would ask for a re-write. I look at editing an image very much the same way; what is the story here? Are the elements contributing to the story being told or not? Are the elements adding confusion or are they oversimplifying?

Ultimately, this is really a "grab shot", not a carefully considered composition. Ole has said so himself. Grab shots generally lack the refinement of a carefully thought out process and tend to contain superfluous elements that detract the viewer. Most grab shots don't work particularly well because of compositional and technical issues. This one is reasonably effective, but requires some tender loving care to bring out the story.