Crit My Pic – The Bazaar by Emmstich
Initial thoughts
What we have in this image is a well spotted full person street portrait. A man amongst his belongings, within his own thoughts, relaxed , even down to the shoeless foot, the whole image is quite serene.
My first thought is ‘Colour!’ I’m certain the shop must have been crammed with brilliantly woven reds, yellows, blues, gold , greens, a floor to ceiling orgy of super brilliant colour. I suspect although can’t confirm or deny that the shopkeeper would have been wearing beige/brown or faded blue which would in my mind bring him to the fore even with the dazzling array around him.
NOTE: Click on each image above to enlarge
Here is the Crit
He is the main focus of the image by default, we humans like looking at others, although I feel to create a stronger image with him as focal by design I would crop to have him on thirds with the hotspot being what he is looking at. Not only does this reinforce the character as the focal point it does it within the image frame parameters.
In this instance, as a photographer, and I already thought the context of the photo was something I wanted to take an image of, I would have asked the shopkeeper to participate; have him show you some of the products, even try and guide the colours he chooses, have him stand where you want and then knuckle down and tell his story.
In conclusion
- The choice of colour or black and white is best considered image to image
- If the image is to tell a story, make sure there is no way out of the viewer being able to read that story by using some of the compositional rules which help
- Think about what opportunities are available in any given situation
Thanks Emmstich for submitting, being able to critique work helps me maintain a sharp focus when I’m out shooting!
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Casper
