Old Man

[Holguin]

I saw this man walking from a distance and something about him intrigued me. As he sat and waited for the bus just the look that he had was captivating. So here is the shot. I turned it into b&w, cropped it and tryed to sharpen it a little. Please let me know what you all think. What can I do to improve?

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...C_1072copy.jpg

Nikon D5000
Shutter - 1/200
Aperture - F5.6
Iso - 200
Focus 300mm
Lense - Nikon 70 - 300mm
No flash

Thanks for looking.

[Lightwriter]

I would have gone a lot tighter on his face. As it is I find is expression a bit interesting but it is too small to see much. The rest of the photo is unflattering and rather drab. You need to include all of him (shoes, too) or crop at a point that makes more sense.

[BigFuzzy]

To me, the main issue of this image is that it's simply not sharp enough where it's most important.. the man and his face. It seems the left side of the bench is the sharpest part, and I'm assuming that was the middle of the original frame from which this crop comes from? Make sure you learn to use focus lock or change the focal points...

I recognize that it was shot at 300mm, but still, to me, any photo where the main subject is a person, sharpness in their face (or eyes when closer) is vitally important..
Also, the brightness of his shirt is a bit distracting as our eyes are drawn to the brightest part of an image typically.

I can see the value of this scene, and may have taken it myself..

[Holguin]

Big Fuzzy - Im new at this photography hobby so this might be a dumb question but what is focus lock? When should it be used? Thanks.

[Niresangwa]

half depressing the shutter button will lock focus and exposure (not sure on your platform, but for me I get a little indicator in the viewfinder), then you can recompose and drop the shutter...

[Holguin]

Can you do this on all settings in your camera or just in auto?

[tiffanyjay]

I defiently would have close croped his face... it's telling a story with many interpertations.

[Lightwriter]

Originally Posted by Holguin

Can you do this on all settings in your camera or just in auto?

You can focus lock any time you are using Auto Focus (AF). On my camera the focus lock is white before the focus is locked in and green when the focus is locked.