Street vendor

[Michaelaw]

Did much playing/doodling with this one and now am unsure of the outcome

[QuietOne]

People and city scenes aren't my strongest subject, but I'll take a stab at it, since no one else has. This is based entirely on how I feel about what I see, so feel free to ignore this if it isn't helpful.

I think the basic problem is people. There aren't enough for it to be "a slice of life in the city", and the people near the cart are in two distinct groups. I tried kinda blocking portions of the photograph to see how it struck me. The vendor and cart with the customer, or the two men to the left isolated from the rest of the picture seemed stronger, but not interesting. Perhaps if the two groups were a little closer together, so that the two men on the left looked a bit more like they were waiting in line.

I haven't had enough experience with scenes like this to say whether having everything in back of the cart a little less in focus would help. Right now, the cars and the people in back are almost as attention getting as the people in front (Sorry for the awkward phrasing. It's late, and I really should get to bed after this).

I can't comment on the black and white. They frequently seem muddy to me, and I'm pretty sure it's in part my monitor. Maybe someone else can tell you.

Hopefully, someone else will take a look and give you something more concrete. But you have my worth.

[Richard]

I've not down any street photography, but I'm guessing you have to work with what you have to get the best composition. I quite like this shot and because it's not in the UK it adds more interest for me.

I'm not sure what you were trying to achieve with the post processing, but IMO it is lacking the darker tones, and a little noisy in the shadows.

Did you get any close ups of the 'street vendor?'

[Michaelaw]

It was experimental in a lot of ways as its about 25% of the original shot which was totally boring. I thought perhaps I could pull something out of it but ran into problems because of the crop. I then got carried away with trying to rescue it with pp. In the end I think I lost objectivity but still had a glimmer of hope After looking at it again after many hours I realize it was one for the bin. The effect is sort or sharpened Orton but there isn't enough interest to to give it any real worth. Maybe if the guy with his back to us had been robbing the vendor or something It's another case of late night processing ending up in "I dunno, lets see what they think" Thanks for the input. I didn't get any more of the vendor Richard as she wasn't the focal point of the original shot sadly, just a small player in a rescue gone wrong

[masp]

Hmm, maybe crop the car wheel on the left hand side, or to the walk light (seems a little distracting), as well as up to the W. Georgia sign on the right. Putting a little more emphasis on the people and less on the cars might help. Cropping the bottom a bit may help too. Just my two-cents.

Overall though, I like the picture. I think black and white (with a little sepia?) was a good choice as it reduces distracting elements from colorful objects. It's interesting to see what Vancouver looks like. Cheers!