Carnival Composition

[John 2]

It was our annual Caribbean Carnival last Sunday. Good photo opportunity and when I captured this shot, what I saw was the interaction between the young girl and the dancer on the right. When I got it up on the screen however, it seemed to me that the real centre of interest was the young girl. Hence the PP. I know what I wanted but have I succeeded? I'm not sure but I've been staring at the image on and off for two days. Feedback, as always, very welcome.

As taken


Processed version

[Shadowman]

I like the composition of the first, post-processing of the second.

[FootLoose]

I can see why you want to eliminate as much of the crowd as possible - nearly everyone of them standing there with their arms folder - but I'm not sure this crop works. While it does focus more attention on the young girl and the woman she is looking at, I feel too much of the woman has been cut off. I don't mind having the lower part of her legs missing, but I think her right arm and backside should be included.

[John 2]

Thanks John, thanks Greg. I think that I should have lived with it a bit longer. I'm beginning to have my own doubts now.

[aslsw]

I think you have straight away noticed the expression on the girl's face and been drawn to the photo - which is good. The issue is that it's impossible to control the background in these circumstances, all those people in various poses but conflicting with the main subjects. Possibly the only way to control it a bit more would have been shooting from a lower height so that at least they didn't conflict with the girls' heads.

These aren't criticisms, just an observation about how hard it is to get every element right in these spontaneous shots.

[John 2]

Thanks for the comments Anura. Your observations are very valid. I only managed this as a snap shot because I was using a fairly WA lens. There certainly would not have been time to focus for instance but tis and my other post are really only for interest.