Mr. Cab Driver

I thought the out-of-focus foreground and background looked kind of

cool, but then I'm kind of a Leica geek and we get into that stuff.

Also I liked the way my reflection appears on the right. But I'm not

sure if the picture works as a whole. You?

I can't see you, Beau. Where are you? Need to sit with this one a while and think about it before I know if it's any good.

Focused on subject well, but the rest doesn't do much for me. but that is my opinion. Cheers Fab.

Jonathan, I shot two frames of this subject, and it turns out I uploaded one picture and wrote about the other in my critique request. The other one was framed further to the right so my reflection was visible. It looks like photo.net doesn't allow "edit critique request" anymore, so sorry about the confusion.

Beau, I like the shot. The only thing I think that I would try is burning or knocking down the background on the left-hand side a bit. To me it seems as if the left-hand side is competing with the drivers face. Just a thought and Id be interested in what you think.

Ps: Whew, regarding your reflectionthought I was going blind.

It's simple but effective and beautiful, and, as you alluded to, classic 'Leica Fotografie' ;)

I see it differently than Ed and like the left hand side as up-front as it is. I looked at this first not knowing where to look. And Ed is right here. If the left side were burned down my eye would more easily find the driver. But the tonality and the grain of the OOF being as beautiful as they are it is a pleasure to float around for a while not knowing exactly where to go. Then my eye snaps into focus on the drivers partial profile. It takes your breath away. His gaze, the only human thing I can hold onto in this picture leads me into that background on the far left, a street in Manhattan, buildings, windows, a person(?). All I can see of the driver really are his eyes so where he is looking and what he may be seeing becomes essential. And I need the OOF info on the far left to further the story. If you burn it down its less accessible. The distinction between inside the cab and outside would also be lost because they will be approx the same shades. I need that distinction too for context. If you want the viewer to find the driver faster, which I think is what Ed is suggesting, then burn down the backside of the front seat. But it's possible the surprise at finding the driver will not be as great since the time floating in the OOF will be shortened and that was an important part of this pic for me.

What I want to know is how did you frame this so precisely at this proximity with a rangefinder and it's inherent parallax.

Kent, having been frustrated with the loose rangefinder framing before, I now instinctively nudge the camera up and left a tiny bit when I'm shooting something close up. Or, I'll just hope to get lucky. In this case I was concentrating on timing -- waiting for him to show his profile -- so here the composition was mostly luck.

You used the Force.

Awesome tonality, Beau. And you had to shoot through that nasty bullet-proof partition. It works for me. Wouldn't change a thing.

It seemed confusing at first, but it settled down for me. I love the contrast between the OOF foreground and the face. The composition is perfect. The tones are sublime.

Don't listen to most comments. You're work is incredible!