Opinions needed on a before and after of a photo

achtungbarry

I took this shot of an accordion player in Madrid las weekend but I felt that firstly the fill flash had made the light seem very unatural and secondly that the background competed for attention with the main subject.

Here is the original



I darkened the face a little and blurred the background to try and improve the shot. I wanted to keep some background detail to give some context to the location of the shot.

Do you think that there is an improvement in the second shot ? Any comments, critiques or suggestions welcome.

Cheers.

Victor

It looks like the foreground is a separate photo that has been superimposed on the background.

Thoie

The second one is an improvement, but as the poster above said, there's still something a bit unnatural about it :S

AnimalRights

Victor wrote: »

It looks like the foreground is a separate photo that has been superimposed on the background.

I too thought this lol

alb

agree that the second is an improvement, but I think cropping the sky to just above his hat would help the composition also. If this was originally a colour picture the conversion to b&w could have been better to give more contrast also.

feileacan

the second one is definitely an improvement but agree with other posters - it looks like two images superimposed.

achtungbarry

feileacan wrote: »

the second one is definitely an improvement but agree with other posters - it looks like two images superimposed.

Thanks folks. You've pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. Hmm, back to the drawing board I guess. There might yet be a decent shot lurking in there somewhere.

Thoie

I've just had a weird thought (that might not work out at all) - how about sharpening the background and blurring the guy?

Ricky91t

Thoie wrote: »

I've just had a weird thought (that might not work out at all) - how about sharpening the background and blurring the guy?

That would be far to distracting i think(?)

To me both images,look like the background is a different image

Think a lightroom preset might do a good job on this

achtungbarry

Here is a newer version with less contrast and brighter to show more light detail on his clothes and a less blurred background. Does he still seem photoshopped in to the background ?

Thoie

Not as much, because the little bits of fluff on the jacket make him appear more "there". I like this version best.

CabanSail

I think this is a shot which really needs the subject to make eye contact with the camera to work. The last edit is the best of those I can see.

achtungbarry

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions folks. It's no masterpiece but I've learnt a bit from your comments so thanks for that.

If you want to lock up this thread now, feel free.

Thanks again.

AnCatDubh

Thread served its purpose. Close request from the OP.