A Little "Stiff" (Pose and Poser)

This Parisian sipping his bier at a sidewalk bistro appeared more

than a little "stiff", in both senses of the word, from the time I

spied him nearly a block away, until the time I passed by. Your

ratings and comments are very much appreciated. (Please honor me by

submitting a helpful and constructive commentary with any harsh or

negative rating/Please share your superior knowledge to help advance

my photography) Thanks and enjoy! John ;~))

Centering more on the face would be better compositionally, I find the white circle distracting. Good idea though!

Your instincts were good here, I think. The two hands and two circles are both great. There is some distortion on the upload or file, and perhaps this would be better in monochrome, with the white circles toned down slightly, so they don't compete so much with the hands and face (the other centres of interest). You might also conceivably crop the left border slightly. Bottom edge is possibly a bit too tight, but not a disaster. Your folder has numerous striking images - but could do with some editing, and some thought as to what your broader, overall goals are. Individual images acquire weight in relation a consistent body of work.

I am very interested in reactions to this particular image, which I find among the most perplexing, yet mesmerizing I have taken. There was no way to "tone down" either "white circle" as under very high brightness/contrast the table had a blue wavy pattern on it that would have destroyed its effect, and the left circle had a menu on it that would also have detracted -- I chose to leave them as I saw them and photographed them -- twin circles of white, and by NOT toning them down, and leaving them complete circles, achieved the effect of double circles (which is what I saw anyway). I only saw the other effects when I began playing with the image to see if there was something else that would improve it. By the way, this guy was literally "frozen" into this position for the longest time, and that I hope I captured.

As to concentrating on one type of image or another -- how boring. I want those who open my portfolio not to know what to expect when they open it, and to hope that they'll be pleasantly surprised. You will notice, however, that the majority of my photographs tend to be "street photographs". John ;~))

The last time I was in Paris I was also a bit "stiff" but resulting from driving fatique and not having had a bath or shave in several days. As I sat, 2 American Tourists came up, took my picture while exclaiming "look, there's one o'them Parisian bums..."

Thanks, John, I needed a good laugh. ;~)))

Looking again at this image, it's almost as if this guy has a mask on his face and he's holding it in place with his left hand, but could peel it off at any time -- perhaps that's Julia Roberts (before her belly got big) or another celebrity under there in disguise, laughing at me . . . for being taken in by a disguise (no I don't smoke anything or drink, even late). John.