Shot at Top of The Rock in NYC. Shot in raw and adjusted in photoshop CS2.
Dodge parts, subject in center reading to bring out from the rest of the shot. Hue and Sat boost and slight tint adjustment.
Statistics
Place: 300 out of 329 Avg (all users): 4.6765 Avg (commenters): 5.5385 Avg (participants): 4.6514 Avg (non-participants): 4.7053 Views since voting: 956 Views during voting: 307 Votes: 204 Comments: 14 Favorites: 0
My first impression was that this shot is too busy, but this is solely because of the person on the left that is looking at you. Everyone else is doing their own thing and not paying any attention to you or the reader. This fits well with the Zen theme in so far as they are "tuned out" of the picture. A second shot, taken from a step or two to your right would have been perfect.
The DoF works well in this shot. The people in the far background MAY be looking at you, but since they are out of focus, you can't tell, and therefor they don't matter.
I like the motion blur of the people that are moving. This give a feeling that the reader is in her own time, and everyone else around can do whatever they want and it won't disturb her.
I think what really hurt your score is the person on the left, and the fact that this photo takes more time to understand the "Zen" of it than most voters will give it.
I like what you're depicting here and how you've isolated her, but the person on the left foreground keeps drawing my eye. As a photograph, it's a bit busy to elicit a "zen" response.
She looks like she is definately in her own little world here amongst all the busy people. As far as a zen photo for this challenge though, I find that womans angry glance towards the photographer especially un-zen. I would have cropped just a tad off the left, just leaving her hair. That would leave me to focus more on the zen subject of the shot.
I like the layout and the concept! The only advice I could give is maybe you should use a little less DOF. If the foreground and background were just slightly more blurred, I think it would draw attention to the girl a bit more, and give strength to the feeling that she completely "tunes out" her surroundings. Excellent concept! 8
An even longer shutter time would have made this better by giving the people more sense of moving. Also perhaps thinking about a perspectiv either frome above or from below. When you take a picture like this it helps to take many and experiment with exposure, shutter time and perspective.
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