I love a parade...

Barry1

This was from an incredibly colorful parade in St. Thomas. We happened to be there during a cruise. The local kids were so proud to be part of this parade that the weight of the costumes did not bother them at all.

bendruckerphoto

The red is just too overpowering. My eye circles around but just can't figure out what this photo is until I see the face. The bright sidewalk is also distracting. Just not a great photo.

rainbow

I LOVE this shot. It is so dynamic with the kid and the bright red and black.

Might I suggest a crop to portrait mode to eliminate the front bright and back parts of people. That would place the child's face on a traditional "rule of thirds" spot and may turn out to be better.

In either case, my compliments! Thanks for sharing.

Barry1

Thanks for the feedback and great recommendations from both above. I agree it is somewhat of an overwhelming shot due to the white vs red. I will try your suggestions in LR later. Thanks for looking.

bdcolen

rainbow wrote:

I LOVE this shot. It is so dynamic with the kid and the bright red and black.

Might I suggest a crop to portrait mode to eliminate the front bright and back parts of people. That would place the child's face on a traditional "rule of thirds" spot and may turn out to be better.

In either case, my compliments! Thanks for sharing.

Okay...so....Rule of Thirds? One third corned beef, one third pastrami, one third chopped liver? Why?

This is a wonderful image - with it's blast of right and the bright, bright light coming in from the right. I would screen the face of the central child a bit, and I'd burn in the left side top half. But other than that, I wouldn't really fool with this much. The feathers, btw, take the eye to the child in the lower left, and if the center child's face is lightened a bit, it will pop out of the red.

Stop thinking rules, folks. Stop thinking, 'oh, that side is blown out, so crop it.' Look at the image as a whole; see where your eyes go; think about what it tell you. And think about what you can tell us about it, not what something you read or heard in a class tells you to see in it or think about it.

Keep your minds as open as your eyes.

torags

Great shot. I think a more open aperture would have bok'ed the woman and sidewalk junk

The colors are marvelous

Halite

I love the colors, textures and geometry you've captured here. The bright white on the right gives the image something to counterbalance the intensity of the red feathers. And it provides context for the parade--brightly sunlit and worn street.

I wish that a bit more of the child at the edge of the shot were visible--my eye craves seeing a little more completion of the pattern of the lines and beads in the costume. I agree with bdcolen on a bit of lightening to bring some focus into the child's face--just a kiss of light to accentuate the rim lighting that's already occuring from the reflection off the white wall.

divamum

I love it too - very vibrant.

Agree about trying to lift the face a little - doding, LAB adjustment, whatever floats your boat, but just something to give it a little more light.

I would also probably close-crop it to lose the blue umbrellas to the right and the body parts to the left - the feathers almost become a swirling abstract like that (just playing around with my browser's window size) and it's an interesting effect.

Barry1

Here is the same photo with a little cropping and LR work. Do you think it improved on the original?

Halite

LR work: Yes, definitely.
Cropping: No, very unbalanced and awkward now.

Barry1

Here is another from the same day. I had to crop it and lighten the faces due to the bright sun. It was not posed - the young lady looked directly at my wife and I just as I took the photo. Accidental timing.

Barry1

I agree with you Halite - I like the original uncropped version but with later LR improvements. It seems easier on the eyes to me. Thanks for the help.