Tuned Out - version 1 or 2 - mini poll

[dubaiphil]

OK, I've been processing some images from my last trip to London and had a few to play with of a lady stood outside Liverpool Street Station.

The first shot I processed was already posted (tuned in and tuned out) but I now have a more centred shot. So, which composition is preferred?

My shots of this lady were candid and from the hip, so none were perfectly level. If I'd brought the camera up to my eye I would have lost the moment and her expression so that's the price you pay.

So ignoring the processing, which may be slightly different between shots, which comp is preferred?

1st image posted:




2nd image not yet seen:

[John 2]

Definitely the first image for me Phil. Her position looking into the frame with the dark area and lamp standard on the left as an end stop and adding depth works better for me although I would loose the small highlight in the shop (light bulb?). In the second image, the sign in the BG to the right is a bit of a pull. Given that she is such a good subject and central, I wonder what cropping the second to the edges of the pillar would look like?

[Shadowman]

The first image, in the first her head position/gaze pulls my gaze towards lamp in the background then back towards her. in the second image, her head position pulls my gaze towards the sign and I tend to linger there a bit longer trying to read it.

[IzzieK]

I like the first one too. Phil. I like her pose... The vertical fall of her tresses is in tune to that of the lamps at the left side. I'd take John 2 advice of toning down the little light.

[Donald]

First one. Just a much stronger image, I think.

[Mike Buckley]

I also prefer the first one overall and would like it even more if you could get the light on her face to resemble the second one.

I wonder if you have a pair of images of the subject in both of these positions using the composition of the first one. It might be nice to display a set with everything being the same except the subject's position.

[pnodrog]

WOW a reasonably definitive vote at this stage - and yes it is the first for me as well.

[Geoff F]

Just a thought after holding pieces of card against the screen, but a very small crop to the left and top of #2 appears to completely change the scene. She then seems to be looking out of the frame and with an expression which is expectantly waiting for another person to appear from the right.

Looks like a totally different scene to me like that.

[mknittle]

+1 for the first. In the second one my eye wants to go to the sign on the wall to the right.

[dubaiphil]

Thanks for the feedback, guys - it's very welcome to get lots of opinions! Definitely a work in progress, this one.

[Geoff F]

+1 for the first. In the second one my eye wants to go to the sign on the wall to the right.

Yes, that was a large part of my thinking about a bit of a left side crop. With less distraction from that light on the left, she is looking to the right where the angle of her face takes me towards that sign and then to her white shoes; which is making something of a rather 'comfortable' triangular joining of main items.

[mknittle]

Yes, that was a large part of my thinking about a bit of a left side crop. With less distraction from that light on the left, she is looking to the right where the angle of her face takes me towards that sign and then to her white shoes; which is making something of a rather 'comfortable' triangular joining of main items.

Now that you mention it the shoes were next in line after the sign.

[Ziggy]

Agree with the others about #1. Much more balanced in the frame.

[rpcrowe]

I like both but, like #1 best...

[Stinky]

1

[FootLoose]

Definitely the first for me.

Following on from Geoff's suggestion for a crop of the 2nd: if you cropped the left side right back to the edge of the column and removed the sign from the right, you would then have her standing in environment that matched her blank expression.