Bagel Baker-St. Lawrence Market

[RBSinTo]

Taken last weekend while I was in the St. Lawrence Market here in downtown Toronto.
One of the many "shops" inside the market is St. Urbain Bagel, a bakery which produces bagels in the Montreal style.
As I approached, the baker had just pulled a batch out of the wood-fired oven and was doing some quality-control before putting them up for sale. This shot was actually quite difficult to get as there is always a line-up for the fresh bagels, and I had to get kind permission from a customer to cut in line and get an unobstructed view.
Nikon D3
zoom-Nikkor 24~70 2.8 G ED AF-S N
1/80 @ 5.6 ISO 3,200

[Donald]

Well, at least you asked the customer if you could cut in. Probably did a good PR job not only for yourself, but also other photographers.

In a way there are two centres of interest - the long line of bagels is of interest, but the guy doing the quality control check is also of interest. If the length of bagels was ignored, the image could zoom in on him and his quality control action. Or, if he was not in the scene, the list of bagels would stand as the subject.

Block out the right hand side of the frame and see if you think that makes a strong image.

[RBSinTo]

Well, at least you asked the customer if you could cut in. Probably did a good PR job not only for yourself, but also other photographer.

In a way there are two centres of interest - the long line of bagels is of interest, but the guy doing the quality control check is also of interest. If the length of bagels was ignored, the image could zoom in on him and his quality control action. Or, if he was not in the scene, the list of bagels would stand as the subject.

Block out the right hand side of the frame and see if you think that makes a strong image.

Donald,
Thanks for commenting.
I do understand your suggestion and agree in principle. However, the three elements (baker, line of product and the red-hot oven) for me all come together to tell the story, and so I prefer that they all remain in the shot.
I do have a tendency to over-explain things so it is very possible that leaving the interior of the oven in is redundant, but I'd rather give that little extra bit of information.
Robert

[Geoff F]

My first thought was to crop the right side but after trying the idea by covering up that area I tend to agree that the best scene is what you have now.

Possibly, selectively tone down the bright light? But that might result in an odd looking colour.

[Manfred M]

I understand what you are trying to do here. The oven does complete the story, but the bright highlight pulls the viewer's eyes over to it and right out of the frame.

That being said, seeing this shot reminds me that I haven't had lunch yet....

[DanK]

I tend to agree that the story gets lost if you crop off the right-hand side. However, I think the original doesn't quite work. The person is dark and indistinct, and the stainless panel on the right is very bright, so my eye was immediately pulled to that big expanse of blank metal.

I think Geoff has the right idea. Here is the beginning of an edit that includes this:
--lightening the person and adding some contrast to him, the latter because his face doesn't have much tonal range and looks washed out when lightened.
--selecting and darkening the entire panel with a levels adjustment.
--spot burning on the right of the panel and around the man's head.

It's not a complete edit, but I think something of this sort brings the attention back to the person.

[RBSinTo]

Geoff, Manfred, Dan,
Thank you all for commenting.
Dan,
I appreciate that you took the time to do some editing, but it doesn't work for me.
In your version, to me, the baker looks washed out, and while you likely wouldn't know it (unless you'd been there), the light in the market is a dog's breakfast of different types and colour temperatures, in addition to being low, so what you've done results in an image that differs quite a bit from how I remember it.
And while the oven is the brightest element in the scene and does tend to draw the eye from the Baker, I rationalized the composition by thinking that the eye would flow from baker to bagels to oven and back again along the metal panel over the oven entrance.
Again there is no right answer, and your interpretation is as valid as mine, only different, and I appreciate that you presented it
Robert

[FootLoose]

Is that surface directly behind the baker reflecting a light that is above and in front of him? If so, I would expect his skin to have some reddish tinge as per the original post. Given that the market is mix of various types of lighting, what, if any, work have you done in post, Robert?

[DanK]

the baker looks washed out,

You're right. The problem is that in the original, there isn't much tonal variation in the face, and when one brightens it, that becomes more obvious. One can add more contrast, but I didn't add much, and I think you're right, not nearly enough. However, one could add more, e.g.:



It's all a matter of taste, of course, but I find photos of people less interesting when their faces are not fairly well illuminated.

[RBSinTo]

Is that surface directly behind the baker reflecting a light that is above and in front of him? If so, I would expect his skin to have some reddish tinge as per the original post. Given that the market is mix of various types of lighting, what, if any, work have you done in post, Robert?

Greg,
The reflection behind the baker is of a neon sign on the kiosk across from the Bakery.
To the best of my recollection, post-processing on this photo consisted of;
Smart sharpen,
Rotation (to true the verticals)
Levels,
Brightness and Contrast,
Auto colour
Auto tone,
Crop
Image resolution and size
I'm not a Photoshop Maven, so these steps (along with the cloning tool which I don't remember using here) are the usual steps I take when post-processing a shot.

Robert