The first picture that speaks to me

[jeveretts]

This would be the first picture I have taken that really speaks to me. It was almost a throwaway, but I pulled it out of the trash to experiment with some post processing. After it was fixed a bit I realized exactly what I had.
This is a homeless person, walking in front of a sign full of rules at a public park, which is adorned with a great big American flag.
I really reminds me how we have all these rules, which make it nearly impossible for homeless people to exist. I cropped it a bit to help the composition, and my PP might be iffy, I am pretty new to it.
But I REALLY like the subject and what it seems to say. I hope you do too.

 

[fokker]

For me the subject is lost in the bigger picture.

 

[astroNikon]

I think one of the keys is cropping it much more. I tried locally but I still could not read the sign after cropping the photo.

I know what you wrote, but it's lost if you can't read the sign that you read.

I cropped up the bottom up to the side walk, the left up to the back of the walker, and the right down and left to the flag but I still was not able to read the sign. The sign verbage and the homeless person being the subject with the Flag/monument. That could just be the small size of your export. You may want to try and crop more with the original and see what you get.

 

[jeveretts]

I think one of the keys is cropping it much more. I tried locally but I still could not read the sign after cropping the photo.

I know what you wrote, but it's lost if you can't read the sign that you read.

I cropped up the bottom up to the side walk, the left up to the back of the walker, and the right down and left to the flag but I still was not able to read the sign. The sign verbage and the homeless person being the subject with the Flag/monument. That could just be the small size of your export. You may want to try and crop more with the original and see what you get.

Yeah, I get what you are saying. I really wanted to have the flag in it too... I like the subject matter but technically it fails to deliver.

 

[IzzieK]

No...it did not fail to deliver. The human element added to it really makes this shot, just that the homeless person is a little bit too small for the big picture, the scene. Can you go back and redo the shot? The concept is there...Is there a way to crop most of the shot at the right and concentrate on the subject and the sign? Did you shoot in RAW? There might still be a chance to improve this no matter what the others says now...

 

[The_Traveler]

Good try.
I agree with that others said about her being too small in the frame.
When you crop it, the sign is the only expected vertical so make that vertical.
Remove some of the saturation so that the impression of the scene is not so bright and happy.
Make the sign into B&W so it stands out and contrast with teh figure.

Lew

 

[jeveretts]

I didn't shoot in raw, unfortunately. I just started shooting in raw today, after doing some video lessons on lightroom. The original also looked pretty bad, the person was a good bit dark because I was facing east in the morning as the sun was coming up.
Here is the untouched original, feel free to try to make it work, just let me know what you did, this is all a learning exercise to me..
http://share.eye.fi/s/v8X9VtM5jWzHRAZoC3dYSXpVek

 

[The_Traveler]

Don't shoot in program mode,
You don't need this huge depth of field
Shoot in a better f stop than f10. F5.6 or f 8 will give better results.
Get closer to the final crop so that the person is bigger in the frame.
Learn to predict pictures.
This lady was slowly walking into a great picture; learn to anticipate and be ready for the shot you want to take.

 

[jeveretts]

I enjoyed this. Thank you... 11 Tips for Beginning photographers

 

[Rosy]

This would be the first picture I have taken that really speaks to me. It was almost a throwaway, but I pulled it out of the trash to experiment with some post processing. After it was fixed a bit I realized exactly what I had.
This is a homeless person, walking in front of a sign full of rules at a public park, which is adorned with a great big American flag.
I really reminds me how we have all these rules, which make it nearly impossible for homeless people to exist. I cropped it a bit to help the composition, and my PP might be iffy, I am pretty new to it.
But I REALLY like the subject and what it seems to say. I hope you do too.

<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=79618"/>

Where was this taken

 

[jeveretts]

Downtown Daytona Beach. This is right where a couple were jailed for feeding the homeless. Daytona is very hard on the homeless, I think because they believe it hurt the tourism industry.

 

[Rosy]

Downtown Daytona Beach. This is right where a couple were jailed for feeding the homeless. Daytona is very hard on the homeless, I think because they believe it hurt the tourism industry.

Thought it was Miami
There's a similar park there
Nice picture!

 

[The_Traveler]

If you are learning to post process, this picture is an excellent one to use for learning how to do channel masks.
Either find a tutorial that you can understand or I can walk you through making one using Skype and sharing my screen.

Lew

 

[astroNikon]

If you are learning to post process, this picture is an excellent one to use for learning how to do channel masks.
Either find a tutorial that you can understand or I can walk you through making one using Skype and sharing my screen.

Lew

Can you do Channel Masks in Lightroom? or Photoshop ?

I think the OP has LR

 

[jeveretts]

I have both.