This is the exterior of "The Real Jerk" restaurant specializing in Caribbean Cuisine.
I shot this on a bright, clear, sunny but cold day around mid-afternoon on Friday. I was standing on the curb on the other side of the street as I waited for some people to walk by. I had a circular polarizer on the 16-35mm lens. The sun was positioned perfectly so that its light fell directly on this west-facing side of exterior wall.
Shot in raw mode.
Post-processing: Curves, levels, colour adjustments. Perspective correction. I cloned out electrical wires running across the photo and the shadows of the wires hitting the red walls. Resized for web and added border.
Statistics
Place: 57 out of 244 Avg (all users): 5.8903 Avg (commenters): 7.1667 Avg (participants): 5.7034 Avg (non-participants): 6.0756 Views since voting: 959 Views during voting: 339 Votes: 237 Comments: 9 Favorites: 0
TECHNIQUE Technically excellent though I think the colors may be a bit too saturated. They certainly do pop but because of the range of primary colors, it's all a bit overwhelming! Good job handling the exposure with the combination of bright sunlight, blue sky, and vibrant paints.
COMPOSITION This is where this pic loses some points - for me. The perspective is a little awkward. The angles made by the street/sidewalk lines on the bottom and the building/sky at the top both lead awkwardly and sort of aimlessly to the right side of the photo, not really leading anywhere. I think you may have fallen prey to the temptation to cram too much into one photo. The people walking are competing with the colorful elements of the building itself. What is the intended subject? It probably should be the people. In that case, my advice is to get closer. Get as close as you can, and then move in, as the saying goes. In a perfect world, what would I have done differently? I guess I would have squared up the perspective and isolated a part of the painted mural, maybe the big smiley face at upper left, and then attempted to catch the passersby right as they passed underneath. Or something to that end. Whatever, I think less would have been more in this case.
EMOTIONAL IMPACT It certainly is colorful, and technically well done, as I said above. However, it seems to lack emotional punch. I think giving the people more of a central role in the photo would have helped in this regard immensely.
Well, people didn't have that much to say during the challenge, but those who commented certainly seemed to appreciate it. Your final score of 5.89 is above average, but I still think this could have been a killer shot if more careful thought and attention had been given to composition. It's certainly a respectable shot and one I hope you're happy with. I certainly enjoyed the chance to study it closely.
Very nice choice of subject. You did a nice composition, especially to hide unwanted elements (the dish). Your patience for people to be in it gives it some perspective of size. Well done.
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