Street entertainer

I saw this street entertainer taking a short break while the the world

carried on around him.

Gareth, unfortunately your “center of interest” is lost. Without your title I would have assumed your center of interest was the couple that takes up the most real estate in your photograph.

The photographer has a number of responsibilities: to direct the viewer to what is the most important element of the photograph; to include everything in the photograph that is required to tell the story and to exclude everything that is not necessary to tell the story.

There are a number of tools the photographer has available to direct the viewer to what is important; contrast, the eye will go to the area of greatest contrast in an image; size, the eye will go to the larger form before the smaller form in the photograph; sharpness, the eye will go to the area of greater sharpness before it goes to the soft or out of focus. You can also use lines or even frames to tell the viewer which is the important part of the photograph.

There are no leading lines in your photographs so you have to use another tool. The area of greatest contrast in your photograph is the white scarf, dark coat on the woman near the camera. The largest form/forms is the couple nearest to the camera. The only tool you have working somewhat in your favor is the sharpness factor yet there is not a great deal of contrast in some areas between what is sharp and what is soft.

It is every bit as important to exclude everything from the photograph that does not contribute to the storey. As the old saying if it is not part of the solution it is part of the problem and you have a good deal of excess information to which the eye and the mind keeps trying to assign an importance.

What could you have done differently? You could have moved in where the entertainer was the largest amount of real estate. In post you could have reduced the contrast in the scarf/jacket, reduced contrast in the overall, increased contrast around the entertainer. The most practical thing you could have done would be to use either a longer shutter speed to let the surrounding blur more or you could have used a shallower depth of field to isolate the entertainer.

I am going to post two revisions. I don’t say that either one is good. They are done very quickly on low res small images. What I hope to illustrate is ways to make your “center of interest” clear to the viewer and not a lost detail in your photograph. You will notice that I have removed the sign above the gray haired lady near the center, the dark post on the far right and the shoulder of the pedestrian in the right corner—none of these items add to your photograph but they do distract tremendously from the story you are trying to tell in your photograph.

Had your entertainer been doing something eye catching it would have been much easier to call attention to him but he’s not. He is just setting there. So if you want him to be what the photograph is about you need to give him some help.

In this first photograph I have reduced the contrast around the entertainer and increased the contrast near him. There are two ways to have done this. The easiest and best would be to wait until people with less contrasting and hopefully darker clothing were in the area, particularly between you and the subject matter. The other is to reduce contrast in post. In this photo the reduction is overdone because I want to clearly illustrate the point. It is very clear in this revision that the entertainer is what the viewer is supposed to look at. However, because it is overdone it looks false. In real life it needs to be handled with more subtlety.

This is the first revision.

This is the second revision. Here I have used motion blur to contrast your sharp and blurred area. Again, this should be done in camera at the time of exposure, not in post processing. A longer shutter speed would have done it. Using a larger lens opening to reduce the depth of field would have done it. Again, it is obvious what is the center of interest.

It doesn't have to be an either or. It could be a some of both. Use either slow shutter speed or shallow DOF at the time of exposure and then a slight adjustment in contrast during post and you have a double whammy.

These, of course, are not the only way to direct the viewer's eye. They are the ones that I feel apply to your photograph.

Let you eye roam around either one of these revisions and in your peripheral vision you will continually see the entertainer. That assures you that the viewer is going to see your intended center of interest. They are going to know that what the photographer found of interest in this scene was the relaxing entertainer.

But motion blurred or at least out of focus those who are in the center of attention, and about the entertainer I found out from the tittle, I didn't notice him at all at first! Nice B&W tones!

Best regards Gareth!

PDE

Gary, thankyou so much for taking the time to look and comment. This was my first attempt at street photo's, I felt a bit wierd pointing my camera at strangers in public. I didn't really take my time with the composition, I should have got in closer and maybe moved to the left. I will take your comments on board and have another go soon.

I like the way you have altered the shot, I have only just installed PSE9 and haven't a clue where to start, it is my winter project though to learn to edit.

I am a beginner and learning fast!

Thankyou again for your time

Regards

Gareth

Gareth, I fully understand the apprehension of street photography. I have been doing it off and on, mostly off, for many years and there is still apprehension. There are long psychological explanations for the reasons but they don't add much to the process of photography--sometimes it is just best not to know. LOL

Gareth, everything I suggested is difficult to do and sometimes impossible. I hope that one of the things that came across in the post is that the photograph is content not technique. You will find it very difficult to find help with content on the Internet forums. You have to work on that yourself. The points I made are very important parts and I do hope that you will keep them in mind as you progress with your photography. Keep your eye on the content not on technique. Talking about technique as the "how" rather than "why" is detrimental to the development of a photographer. Yet you will find almost nothing else in the forums.

I well remember my days as an aspiring photographer and I truly hope you are enjoying it as much as I did, as I still am. The best to you always. I am always willing to work with you on content so do not hesitate to pm me if you like.