Fruit Seller, 7th Ave, NYC

[otherprof]

I've bought from her on that corner many times over the years

 

[The_Traveler]

IMO, this picture has a lot of things that keep it from its potential.

Big tilt for no artistic reason
The fruit is big and bright and obvious, the seller is small and dark and looks OOF.
She's way too small in the frame for no reason.

 

[otherprof]

IMO, this picture has a lot of things that keep it from its potential.

Big tilt for no artistic reason
The fruit is big and bright and obvious, the seller is small and dark and looks OOF.
She's way too small in the frame for no reason.

View attachment 124980

Thanks for taking the time and effort to help me with the shot, particularly for pointing out the focus problem. I understand how it happened - I was shooting one-handed with auto focus while crossing a busy Manhattan street in rush hour. What should not have happened is my not noticing that once I got the image in the computer. I didn't notice it until you pointed it out. As to the tilt and the crop, they are both what I wanted. I was trying to catch the feel of a NYC corner stand in rush hour, and I wanted her in her environment and contrasted with the bright fruit, etc. That is a reason I liked the stray strand of hair across her face when I discovered it on the computer screen. It is quite possible I didn't succeed in getting the image that matched my idea of the image. It is also possible that the focus problem keeps it from being potentially a very good, but different image, as you would have handled it. One of my problems is I tend to see what I wanted to capture at the time of the shot in the shot. As with the focus problem, I've got to be more critical.

 

[otherprof]

IMO, this picture has a lot of things that keep it from its potential.

Big tilt for no artistic reason
The fruit is big and bright and obvious, the seller is small and dark and looks OOF.
She's way too small in the frame for no reason.

View attachment 124980

I thought about your suggestions some more, and now agree about the tilt.

 

[The_Traveler]

One of my problems is I tend to see what I wanted to capture at the time of the shot in the shot.

You've nailed the biggest problem for anyone, being able to see the difference between what you have captured and what you see in your mind's eye. First, with work, the objectivity will come and then eventually you will be able to see where you need to be and how to take the shot to get to that image.

So, in this one, you might think that you want to get her larger in the screen, see more of her hands, get the fruit in the background to serve as hints for what she is doing. Those ideas then dictate your position in relationship to her and the fruit and where the camera must be.

The purpose of everything - position, camera, aperture, fov - is to establish an image where as much as possible everything prominent in color, brightness or position has a purpose.