Another of Mankind's mysteries

[RBSinTo]

Taken a couple of years ago here in downtown Toronto. I was walking along Spadina Avenue in the heart of the original Chinatown when I spotted a young man with very interesting facial markings sitting against a window ledge, and intently working on his Laptop.
I liked the scene, and not wishing to disturb him, shot from the hip as I walked by.
motorized Nikon FG
Nikkor 24 f2 AIS
Fuji 100 ISO colour slide
5.6 @ 1/125th

[DanK]

IMHO, a really interesting capture, but the image could use some work. Specifically:

1. The image overall is substantially underexposed. Here's the histogram:



2. The face, which is your point of interest, is even more severely underexposed, to the point where some detail is hard to see:



If my recollection is right, these issues shown up in a number of the other slide-based captures you have posted, so it may suggest something about how you are metering with that camera.

3. The framing is fairly loose, and this allows in some background that competes for attention, particularly on the far right.

4. The short focal length created some perspective distortion (big feet), but there isn't anything to be done about that.

I did a quick and dirty edit, brightening the image, pulling up the shadows, dodging the face, and cropping. I left the man on the right undarkened, as one might want that as a contrast. Not a clean job, but it shows what I was thinking about:

[mugge]

Very interesting markings. Thank you for showing it. It would have been good to find out what the markings were about
Cheers Ole

[RBSinTo]

Dan,
Thanks for the detailed comments.
With respect to my exposures, I was taught to always under-expose my slide film by 1/3-1/2 stop to saturate the colours, and your exposure adjustment looks over-exposed and washed out to me, but again I suppose this is a matter of taste. Your suggested crop is a good one, although the busyness of the reflected background is a feature that appeals to me in street photography. Different strokes, I guess.
Robert