Critique?

TheBromad · Sep 28, 2015

I usually don't shoot black & white but I really liked this shot. Any constructive criticism?

dxqcanada · Sep 28, 2015

Why the colourization in that one spot ?

Door handles are a distraction. Try a crop. Birds are too dark
The old guy should be the centre of attention.

JacaRanda · Sep 28, 2015

I am not a selective color hater, but not sure why you did it here. Nothing exciting about the chairs in the window.

TheBromad · Sep 28, 2015

JacaRanda said:
I am not a selective color hater, but not sure why you did it here. Nothing exciting about the chairs in the window.

The color was actually my favorite part, maybe we're seeing it different ways.... I know the chairs aren't exciting but it seemed to balance the image and create a better sense of mood

dxqcanada · Sep 28, 2015

Hmm, you do see this differently than Jaca and I.
I would not have added any colour ... just B&W.
My opinion ... the eye should first go to the old guy, then reluctantly look around to place him in context.

EIngerson · Sep 28, 2015

The blue is distracting. The obvious subject would be the man. Eyes are drawn straight to a pointless stack of chairs. Honestly, I would lose the color and crop in from the lower right.

TheBromad · Sep 28, 2015

When you look at the homeless man though, does it kind of create a nice accent? That's what I was aiming for, but I can see how it becomes a focal point. Maybe I shouldn't have boosted the saturation as much as I did.

dxqcanada · Sep 28, 2015

Accent would be subtler and compliment the subject (which I assume is the guy) ... the colour makes it prominent ... unless that is the subject ?

TheBromad · Sep 28, 2015

dxqcanada said:
Accent would be subtler and compliment the subject (which I assume is the guy) ... the colour makes it prominent ... unless that is the subject ?

So this looks better?

EIngerson · Sep 28, 2015

Yes. It does. But there's still too much empty space bottom right. I would also subdue the door handles. They draw the eyes as well.

deeky · Sep 28, 2015

I think it's all been said above, but because it took me a bit to figure it out when I started, let me summarize.

In short, the human brain, via the eye, is naturally drawn to the brightest color in the frame or, in the case of black and white, the brightest white area. Like it or not, it's just the way we are wired. Unless you happen to have some other great point of contrast, that's where the eye will go. In your first shot, the brightest color is the stack of chairs and the brightest white in the b&w portion is the door handles, neither of which are the focal point.

You've fixed the color issue, now go back with the burnish tool set for highlights (in photoshop anyway) and darken the handles. You don't need to go anywhere near black, but tone them down.

480sparky · Sep 28, 2015

The man is THE focus point of the image. The blue chairs in the windows were a huge distraction. I'd even go so far as to clone out the door handles and darken the reflections in the windows a bit.