Milk Man : Street Shot. C&C Welcome

[fotugraphy]

Hi, going forward on my photography venture I stopped and clicked another shot. Can you please review it and let me know what exactly is missing for it to make it much better?

Here i tried to capture the milk man at work and his dog watching him working. I have deliberately under exposed the shot to give more mystery to hide his face and to add more shadows to give more dimension to the metal drums of milk man.

Please provide your views and suggestion with composition, frame, crops and processing.

Thank You

PS : Please click on the image for lightbox screen view (Highly recommended)



Updat 1: Original Frame with milk canister and dog not cropped off, B&W conversion and made the man little bit brighter.

[Mark von Kanel]

Raj for me the under exposure works well for everything apart from the main subject... personally id brighten just him up a little, not much but just a little.

[Shadowman]

Hi Raj,

Frame is a bit tight (part of dog and milk canister cut off), I like the processing but there are too many rich colors (yellow object, wooden frames) competing with the subject. I'd go black and white on this one. Nice effort.

[mknittle]

Hi Raj,

Frame is a bit tight (part of dog and milk canister cut off), I like the processing but there are too many rich colors (yellow object, wooden frames) competing with the subject. I'd go black and white on this one. Nice effort.

What John said

[rpcrowe]

I think that brightening the milkman will draw attention to him.

[Mark von Kanel]

A little to much Raj and only the milk man!

[Geoff F]

Maybe try boosting the highlights fractionally, but watch out for over exposure, and keep the shadows rather dark. Still retaining a somewhat moody and mysterious atmosphere but without appearing to be obviously under exposed?

[Pohled]

Hi,

I liked it very much. It seems that you attained your goal. Perhaps it could be a little lighter, but perhaps more light and this mysterious feeling would be eliminated. I think it's one of that kind of photo from which one could tell a story.

[Antonio Correia]

This image gives a sense of mystery and it would be interesting to know that he is the milk man without the need of stating so.

Perhaps the milk could be running from one pot to another. I know that is easy for you.

The yellow plastic at the end of the scene cries out too loud and I agree with John that the image can give a nice black and white.

I think you have underexposed a bit too much but you have a beautiful light to compose in what looks like to be a narrow street.

Another small detail: don't cut the jar on the man's left hand. Perhaps you have it in the frame since the beginning.

Was he waiting for you to photograph or was he just picking the container and you got him in action ?

How about this Raj ?

[selig1656]

Not much to add to those above me , frame seems to tight and the main subject seems a little too dark and over blends into the background. I useful tool in the future is to make the most of bracketing to see the variations in exposure. Thank you for the sharing.

[IzzieK]

Let me be different here, Raj...a while ago this morning I have been reading about underexposure and overexposure of a subject in a photo. It mentioned "intentional underexposure to add drama to a scene". I admired that technique very much and now yours. Here you have achieved that goal of the drama. The yellows matches the colour of the paint on the post near the man. It is not overexposed too much as I can see from here. The other colours reddish and browns as such adds to this environmental shot. My only problem was the dog which was cut off a little, but it shows his concentration on what his master was doing. Well done. I'd give this a 4.5 star out of 5 because of the cropped part of the dog.

[Antonio Correia]

Sorry but I went away while the image was uploading and only now I could come back and post it.

[fotugraphy]

Raj for me the under exposure works well for everything apart from the main subject... personally id brighten just him up a little, not much but just a little.

Thanks a lot for your kind review and suggestion. I have brighten up the man. Please check the description of the thread for the updated image

[fotugraphy]

Hi Raj,

Frame is a bit tight (part of dog and milk canister cut off), I like the processing but there are too many rich colors (yellow object, wooden frames) competing with the subject. I'd go black and white on this one. Nice effort.

Thanks a lot for your kind review and suggestion. I have update the description with the b&w and with original frame where canister and dog was not cropped) Please check the description of the thread for the updated image

[fotugraphy]

What John said

thanks for your valuable review and suggestion. I did everything what john suggested. Please check the updated image in the description

[fotugraphy]

I think that brightening the milkman will draw attention to him.

thanks a ton for your kind review. I have brighten up the man as suggested. Please check the description of the thread for the updated image.

[fotugraphy]

Maybe try boosting the highlights fractionally, but watch out for over exposure, and keep the shadows rather dark. Still retaining a somewhat moody and mysterious atmosphere but without appearing to be obviously under exposed?

thanks a lot for your kind review and suggestion. I have updated the image with the changes as suggested in the description of the thread. Please feel free to review it again (black and white one). Really appreciated.

[fotugraphy]

Hi,

I liked it very much. It seems that you attained your goal. Perhaps it could be a little lighter, but perhaps more light and this mysterious feeling would be eliminated. I think it's one of that kind of photo from which one could tell a story.

Thank you for your kind review and suggestion. Please check the updated image in the description of the thread

[fotugraphy]

This image gives a sense of mystery and it would be interesting to know that he is the milk man without the need of stating so.

Perhaps the milk could be running from one pot to another. I know that is easy for you.

The yellow plastic at the end of the scene cries out too loud and I agree with John that the image can give a nice black and white.

I think you have underexposed a bit too much but you have a beautiful light to compose in what looks like to be a narrow street.

Another small detail: don't cut the jar on the man's left hand. Perhaps you have it in the frame since the beginning.

Was he waiting for you to photograph or was he just picking the container and you got him in action ?

How about this Raj ?

thanks a ton for your valuable review and suggestion. you were right i was not having cropped dog and jar in the original frame but i cropped in the Post processing. your edit looks awesome no doubt about that. Please feel free to review the updated image in the description (with the original frame). Much Appreciated

[fotugraphy]

Not much to add to those above me , frame seems to tight and the main subject seems a little too dark and over blends into the background. I useful tool in the future is to make the most of bracketing to see the variations in exposure. Thank you for the sharing.

Thanks for your kind review and suggestion. Please feel free to review the updated image in the description of the thread where i have updated it with the original frame. I will keep in mind about the bracketing of exposures.