just another day

[navinrai]

street toy seller, shirdi, india
D3000, iso 400, f5.6, 1/8 sec

c&c please

thanks

 

[The_Traveler]

I suggest cropping L&R to remove the distracting bright lights and center eye on the vendor (and maybe lighten his face a bit)

 

[navinrai]

Thx traveller, much better, was that levels in photoshop?

 

[The_Traveler]

nope, just selected his face and brightened a bit.

 

[navinrai]

Ok, thx.

 

[The_Traveler]

Sorry to be so abrupt, just fighting jet lag and losing.

In regards this picture.
You need to plan ahead when getting street pictures and you need equipment that will enable you to get the subject well exposed.
Once the primary subject is well-exposed, you can do virtually anything.
My guess is that you are at the widest aperture of your lens, but you are shooting at a relatively low ISO.
D3000, iso 400, f5.6, 1/8 sec

Increase the iso as much as possible; it is better to have color or luminance noise than to not get the shot.
In this situation, with the bright lights behind his head, they not only distract the viewer's eye but also fool the camera into under-exposing so you want to use exposure compensation to increase the exposure.

the ideal way to shoot this would have been:

use a faster lens - (50 1.8) and shoot at larger aperture. That will throw the background OOF
use a higher iso so your shutter speed would have been fast enough that you could eliminate blur from hand holding.
Change your angle so that the bright windows are not in the background.​

You are lucky to be in South Asia, a place that is unparalleled for its color and photo opportunities.
Just work at it and, as you get more comfortable with understanding the situation, you shots will be what you see in your mind's eye.

Best wishes,

 

[navinrai]

i was worried that higher iso would mean noise but like you mentioned its much better than no shot. I definitely need tons of work on technique and understanding the environment you are shooting in.

Great pointers Traveler much appreciated.

 

[The_Traveler]

Believe me, if you are South Asian yourself, you have an enormous advantage in doing street photography in India because you won't stick out as a cultural outsider with a camera.
(like me, for an example)

Just practice, practice until you are proficient at the actual management of your camera - until changing iso or exposure compensation is natural and you don't need to think how.
Look at your shots to see where they fall short, where they don't show or tell what you want and then go practice more.
Digital images cost nothing.
I couldn't count the number of totally terrible images I've taken.
Eventually the technically adequate images will be in the great majority and then you can concentrate on the art of telling with a camera.