Afternoon Stroll (Mama chari)

[alyacroft]

I'm not sure if this is the place to be posting this photo, but I think it fits the best.

This was taken while taking a walk around my neighborhood in Hokkaido, Japan. The bike is called a "mama chari." It's kind of seen as an old lady's bike (though strangely everyone rides them, no matter what gender or age).



Canon Kiss X4 (Rebel T2i/550D)
Canon 50mm 1.8 II
f/5.6
ISO 100
1/100

I upped the contrast a bit, but only slightly.

Now I'm wondering what you think about the textures? I feel like it might be a little lopsided because the left side is darker than the right side. Do you think this negatively affects the balance of the photo?

Also, I was having a hard time deciding whether or not I should include the shadow on the left side. It was from an overhand just outside of the frame. I felt like not including it would make the left side too cramped, but now I'm not sure if it feels too busy on that side. Any thoughts?

[Doug Sundseth]

I think that for me the photo is a bit unbalanced. The left side is visually much heavier than the right side (medium brown brick vs. light brown bamboo and white corrugated steel, solid door vs. airy bicycle).

Rather than cropping in from the left, though, I'd try cropping down a bit from the top. The bricks extend higher than the bamboo window coverings, which increases the weight on the left.

The other thing I noticed was that you didn't shoot this quite straight on. Since it's so close, you can probably fix it with the Lens Filter without loss of IQ.

[Krusty79]

I think the image is a little too busy. The eye naturally goes to the lightest part of the image, but I don't think you want that in this case. Therefore, I would be tempted to crop some off the top or right side of the image. I can see that it would be tough to crop out the panel on the right without losing part of the bike tire, though.

[alyacroft]

I see what you mean -- I didn't notice I was a bit to the side when shooting! I think it was because there was a telephone pole in the way, but next time I'll make sure to take note of where I'm standing!
Thanks for the feedback -- I really appreciate it! Still open to more critiques!