Thanks for your critiques. I realize I'm getting expert advice for free, so I'll be brief.
To stamper: Thanks. I did decrease the saturation somewhat in the background colors.
To Otto Phocus: exactly what I thought when I saw the couple and later the picture.
To Rob C: As much as I hated to give up the "frame within a frame", I think further
cropping does produce a better picture
Appreciatively,
Dale
PS: Forgive the mutilation of the man's hand. A quick slash with the heal brush just to see the effect of removing one heater.
I think you cropped the wrong way; there was nothing wrong with the 'frame within frame' aspect, and I think making it square defeats the feeling I think I first saw in your picture; felt the original sides were perfectly okay, added the sense of space needed to point up isolation within, just that it needed to lose the tops of those darned, intrusive heaters. The bits that count are as much of the couple as you have caught, and the feeling of 'apart together' is international in scope, redolent of the contemporary isolation of the individual both in public places as much as within the unit, none of this needing the input of the 'tourist' background to make the point. That recent shot of Peter's of the little girl standing alone within a peopled space did this very well.
In that sense, stamper's idea of b/white might well add something gritty to the mood. On a general kick, I think square images don't suit that kind of subject very well, even if many famous streeters have used the 6x6(ish) format in the past; I suspect that the dynamic of horizontal adds motion, even to the stationary.
Incidentally, don't place much weight on contributions such as this, or any others: go with
your gut.
Rob C
