Is the background distracting?

[Shayak Sen]

In this I the contrast the white of the man's dress with stone's colour and the empty space in front of him. But I wasnt able to whip myself into Av mode and get a shallower depth of field before the guy moved on. So in that sense this picture does not do what I wanted. But in the final result, is the background distracting from subject?

Kindly let me know what you think.

Focal length: 55 mm
Aperture: f/8
Speed: 1/250 s
Filter: PL-CIR


Thanks,
Shayak


Untitled by yakshas, on Flickr


PS: Do you have any general tips on what the default shooting mode be?

[MrJones]

well, the man in white is such a small part in this picture that my eyes went straight to the background.
maybe if you took the photo from the front, catching him on just the brick wall - then it would have been great
you see, the contrast is with the wall to the right, not the pile of bricks in the background.

sorry... candid shots require a lot of luck.