Critique Welcomed Street Photography - City Sunbeams

[Lesley Jones]

I guess the best thing is to jump in with both feet and post my first image. I said I was passionate about street photography and I am lucky to be within an hour of London by train. Taken last month and just after I had been turned away from City Hall's impressive spiral staircase - I didn't know it was closed to the public now.

Then I literally saw the light. Office workers tried to ignore me on my hands and knees in front of their building

 

[Davie Hudson]

A really nice tone to this, has a warmth

 

[Lesley Jones]

Thank you Davie. Actually, it should be un-toned unless my fingers slipped with the levels again. I found I had some very slightly magenta sheep the other week

 

[Thomas brookes]

Lesley that's is quite something! The shards of light are brilliant. I love the fact the parallel floor pulls you into the shot. the small detail of the vertical lights on each office floors are a great And the walking folk is the cherry on top I think. Lots of good things make this a wonderful shot! Great job. If I where to offer any form of critique I would suggest playing with a crop to crop the left hand Pillair and office block out and reducing the pavement to suit the picture size. That's only my opinion and me clutching at straws though.

 

[Lesley Jones]

Yes - I think that crop would work if I left enough to the left of the gaping hole. I'm a funny so and so though. I almost never crop my images. Actually... a funny story. I've been using Elements 6.0 for ages and only moved to CS5 before Christmas because I was getting banding in my skies. I didn't realise that the new tool crops and resizes! I thought I had lightly trimmed the edges of three images before I found they were less than half their original size. I had to go back to the RAW files and start again

 

[Pete Askew]

The balance of light here is lovely Lesley. As Tom says, the office lights really add to the whole and the low angle adds quite some drama. I can see what Tom means about the crop but I would miss the sense of space that side of the building brings. The two figures and the fact that one is looking towards the centre left helps guide the eye I think.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

You can almost hear a choir going AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Wonderful - loving the Aspen? trees standing out against the dark building, and the leading line of the brick pavement

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Nice shot, Lesley. Love the angelic shaft of light.

 

[Hamish Gill]

I was banging on the other day about telling people your first reaction to a photo ...
Well mine was very positive!
The light shining through, the glow of the trees against the background buildings, the way the floor leads the eye and the position of the people make for a very nice image ...
There is definitely a crop option described by Tom for a different image... A better one maybe, maybe not ... Either way I like this as it is!

 

[Ronald Atchley]

Really nice Lesley. I somehow missed seeing this one
before . Like I've said before , you have a gift for the
street. You know how I like darker images........ I really
think this is one of your best
Really really good.
Ron