Intensity

[Quo Fan]

Master (5th degree) Chris Gray, competing as a 4th degree because he was promoted the night before the tournament.

I cropped the shot, adjusted the exposure, and eliminated the red eye.

[wulf]

How much is this cropped down? At that aperture I would expect a narrower Depth of Field, which would make the audience less distracting (some of them look bored and one is growing out of his head!) but if you were actually a fair distance away that would explain it.

You could blur and darken the audience although you would have to take care not to make it look too artificial. Perhaps you could could put the subject on a different background altogether to make the most of the intensity of his pose and expression.

Wulf

[phlyersphan]

I agree - you've captured the intensity of his pose and expression, but all of the people in the background are a great distraction. Maybe blur them in Photoshop or something similar?

[Quo Fan]

The crowd looks like it does because this event is at 3 in the afternoon, and the tournament had been going on since 9. Most of the people were a little tired by then.

The black belts sitting closest to the ring are also competitors either waiting for their turn, or have already competed.