Anyone for a litttle cigarette ash spicing up their food. YUCK! And he looks like he's really zoned out ... makes me wonder what's in that cigarette?! Love the perspective which makes his um, largish, gut more obvious and the line of his hand and the tongs leading out of the picture and towards whatever he's looking at. Colors are harmonious and not oversaturated (thank you!). Nice job on capturing the details in an ordinary moment.
I love the guy's expression. Awesome. What an interesting face.
Topic wise, this is candid, and it is obvious what is happening. The cigarette (not that I advocate smoking) adds a lot to the look of the image and the background is not distracting and gives it that back yard feel. Compositionally, I like the way it is set up and it is quite pleasing.
Two things bug me though (technicals):
1. It appears the camera front focused -- the front of the grill is in focus, but the man's face (and cigarette) are out of focus, which really bothers me. It'd be nice if the grilling materials were in focus too, but that isn't as necessary. The problem is, if you get the focus wrong on the shot, you can't save it too easily in editing. Did you use USM on this? Or is it an effect?
2. It appears oversaturated. I like the colors, but some places the color just abruptly starts and stops (like the background, the plates, etc.). I think you could have used less saturation and avoided those artifacts.
Yup, I'll keep this as a 6. The two problems I mentioned above are what keep me from going higher.
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is this tone mapping? too far, whatever it is, for my taste. Terrific photo!!! Would love to see a softer processed version. I know, you thought it was perfect. Just a little too far for me. You still squeezed a 7 out of me. :-)
A but over-processed, skin tones are a bit too purple. Greens don't look too good. The bokeh of this lens isn't too great. Good composition though. You'd have been better off cloning out his right arm. The feel of the photo is a bit too drab and depressing for my taste.
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