At The Market

[mugge]

I spotted this gentleman on a recent trip to Marysville in north east Victoria. This market operates once a week and there were quite a few stalls selling secondhand goods such as rusty tools and door hinges together with local produce olives, wine and broken furniture

I think this gentleman is a representative of the stall holders. What you see is what you see.
C&C welcome

At The Market by Ole Hansen, on Flickr

[Shadowman]

A bit on the dark side but nicely seen and framed.

[Manfred M]

Ole - what is the subject here? The gentleman, his truck or the goods he has for sale?

Based on the way you have framed and presented this image, my first guess would be the truck, based on how it is placed on it in the frame. I suspect that was not what you were trying to do.The man (I suspect IS your intended subject, given your explanation) has a very minor role in your composition and is too close to the left edge of the frame.

My first impression is that you are trying to do too much in one shot. Concentrate on your subject and make sure your framing, choice of focal length and the use of depth of field give prominence to your main subject and let the other parts of the image complement him.

I also find that B&W is NOT working in this shot. The tonal values are too close together and while it simplifies the image, it crams everything together as well. And yes, I agree with John; the shot is too dark and also like too contrasty.

Had you shot from a position to the subjects left and used some of the material in the image to create an environmental portrait, this image would be a lot stronger. Eye contact with the subject would have been great.


Just as an aside, when I am on the road, I love shooting at markets. Let me show one example of a shot I took about a year ago at a market the more or less captures what I was trying to explain in text:

The fishmonger

[Geoff F]

This image doesn't seem so dark in the Lightbox view.

I suspect that if the man had been facing the other way the whole scene would have come together in a more unified way.

[Manfred M]

I suspect that if the man had been facing the other way the whole scene would have come together in a more unified way.

Agreed, but that only fixes one issue.

[mugge]

I agree, the man should have faced the other way however he is not the subject nor is the truck, it is the whole jumbled scene that I was trying to capture. That may been a mistake in that I am trying too much. The man is simply an aside to a chaotic scene.

[lovelife65]

I think this is a fantastic scene. (better with the man facing his goods). Gives a lot to chew on, and it's very interesting. I think the "subject" is the chaos. Personally, I love it.

[DanK]

maybe crop just to the left of the tree. That would give it a bit more focus.

[Rick50]

I'm with Manfred. Great subjects, but there are three of them. Anyone would work as the prime image if constructed right.
But having said all that I know the feeling. You just want to capture it all.

[RBSinTo]

Ole,
I agree with Manfred's assessment of the shot:there is simply too much to include in one photo and still effectively tell the story.
Additionally the one aspect of the photo as taken that bothers me most is the cropping of the foreground which is too tight I my opinion.
I think overall that this subject would have been better served with a series of photos rather than just the one.
Robert

[mugge]

Robert, the foreground was absolutely terrible but I wanted a picture.
Cheers Ole

[Manfred M]

I wanted a picture.

Being a learning site on photography you are going to get comments and suggestions one what works and does not work with the image you posted. We are concerned about getting a "good" picture.

[RBSinTo]

Robert, the foreground was absolutely terrible but I wanted a picture.
Cheers Ole

Ole,
The middleground and background aren't examples of the Garden of Eden either.
While you had excellent and interesting material to work with, in my opinion you should have done more to explore the various possibilities by moving around until you found compositions that told the story better.
Neither the subject nor his wares were going anywhere, so unless he forbade you from taking more than one shot, you could have spent the time to get a better picture than you showed here.
Robert