CCC Forum

Taken on a walk around Little India. He seemed like quite a sad chap and never lifted his head.

6D
24-70mm @ 35mm
1/40th sec
f/4.0
iso 100


The Shopkeeper by cedarsphoto, on Flickr

I know that this is a downsized JPEG, quite heavily sharpened if the discussion on another thread is an indication, but when I first looked at this shot I was impressed by the amount of definition you managed to get. Which version of the 24-70 do you have? The f/2.8 mkII or the stabilised f/4?

Technical quality is excellent, but what of the image itself? I would have liked to have seen more of the man's face, which would have provided more interaction with the viewer. He does not necessarily have to be looking at the camera. The shot is also rather busy with the sweets, cigarettes and newspapers competing with each other for attention. It makes it unclear what you want the viewer to look at. Is it the stallholder or what he is selling?

So sorry, it is not doing anything for me.

It's downsized to meet the forum limits, yes, but the full-res one is still pretty sharp. As for sharpening, I think I typically UNDER-sharpen my images which is why I was so keen to see what oversharpening would look like, typically I back off a bit for fear of it all looking overly processed. I think this is sharp because of a combination of focal length & aperture - the DOF is quite small in the scene really which keeps your attention focused on what he's doing, there's no background whatsoever really.

The lens is the Tamron 24-70 rather than either of the Canon versions. While it may not be as technically sharp in controlled conditions as the Canon mk II, it's better than the mk I but more importantly is stabilised so the number of keepers is significantly larger. It's absolutely brilliant

Also, because the man kept his head bowed at all times (as mentioned in the blurb), even when serving people, I'm not sure what kind of interaction you want or expect? Is that not like the typical judge statement of "nice picture but if you'd stood 2 inches to the left", not knowing that 2" left would mean jumping off a cliff? The scene is shot as it was, forcing an interaction would not have been an accurate reflection of what was there, nor what I was aiming for. As for the message, it's as you say "everything"... look at the panoply of things this little man is selling, it's overwhelming and where do you start? Much like it was in person It's busy, I agree, but if the viewer wishes to spend time looking there's a lot to look at.

Thanks for the compliments about technical quality but I'm not sure what you mean I'm not sure Mr shopkeeper is on a third or part of the golden ratio spiral

Personally, the single thing I wish I'd done for this photo that I didn't was get lower down to the ground but the street was too busy! Otherwise I think it's probably mostly a photographer's street image, certainly not going in exhibition!

davidc wrote:
Also, because the man kept his head bowed at all times (as mentioned in the blurb), even when serving people, I'm not sure what kind of interaction you want or expect? Is that not like the typical judge statement of "nice picture but if you'd stood 2 inches to the left", not knowing that 2" left would mean jumping off a cliff? The scene is shot as it was, forcing an interaction would not have been an accurate reflection of what was there, nor what I was aiming for. As for the message, it's as you say "everything"... look at the panoply of things this little man is selling, it's overwhelming and where do you start? Much like it was in person It's busy, I agree, but if the viewer wishes to spend time looking there's a lot to look at.

If you have got the shot which you intended and you like it, then great. First and foremost, as enthusiasts we should shoot for ourselves. For me, it does not work for the reasons previously given. I am not expecting you to force an interraction, but I think that there was a better shot to be had. Getting that shot without disturbing what attracted you to the scene in the first is quite another matter, though. Just one of the challenges of photographing people on the street.

Scenes with a lot of information in them have to be handled carefully if they are not to overwhelm. The mind tends towards simplicity and while it is interesting to see what is on sale, there is too much going on. YMMV.

davidc wrote:Thanks for the compliments about technical quality but I'm not sure what you mean I'm not sure Mr shopkeeper is on a third or part of the golden ratio spiral

I was referring to the monochrome conversion and the clarity of the image. Everything else you mention is aesthetics.