I find the background distracting and not in step with the mood of the shot. Also the red in the lanyard draws the eye from his face, the subject. So, here's my suggestion, a tighter crop and B/W to remove those distractions... Here's a preliminary shot at it, there's probably room for improvement in my B/W conversion.
Nice exposure, focus. I agree that the background and lanyard are distracting and that the b/w works better for this reason.
The eyes looking away from camera and the odd perceived angle of the lip on the instrument bug me. I think a perspective to the right would have done better.
Thank you both for your criticism and suggestions. I agree that the background and lanyard are distracting. As far as background, this was the only shot I could get. I really like the B&W. Great suggestion.
What do think if I PS the red lanyard w/ color replacement to something like a dark grey or something similar? Would that be considered faking it (sacrilegious)?
Scott, as far as the angle of the saxaphone are you talking about the angle going out of the image or the angle in his mouth? Interestingly, that is the way he play it, in the side of his mouth.
This was also very helpful because I learned what "lanyard" means
What do think if I PS the red lanyard w/ color replacement to something like a dark grey or something similar? Would that be considered faking it (sacrilegious)?
Scott, as far as the angle of the saxaphone are you talking about the angle going out of the image or the angle in his mouth? Interestingly, that is the way he play it, in the side of his mouth.
This was also very helpful because I learned what "lanyard" means
Ron
re faking it - i think that changing the color of the lanyard is not faking it anymore than converting to b/w
re angle in his mouth - thats what I meant - i realized that he plays at an odd angle - I was just saying it would be better if you could immediately tell what he was doing by being a bit to the right.
