Tony, Okay. Here's a similar shot I made about a week ago. I'd say it's about on a par with yours as far as quality is concerned.
[attachment=15652:Coffee_a...ewspaper.jpg]
There's nothing wrong with your shot and there's nothing wrong with my shot, but it seems to me that the message I get from both is sort of "so what." It's not that there isn't a story there. There is. The story is that there's a guy sitting there reading the morning paper. Your guy doesn't have his coffee yet, but it's probably about to arrive. I don't think there's anything wrong with the clutter behind your guy. It gives the picture a sense of place, which, I think, is important to the not so important story.
I probably shoot a dozen shots like this over a period of a month, and I may put some of them on my personal web site, which is a sort of visual diary, but I wouldn't consider putting this one on my portfolio site (
www.FineArtSnaps.com). When I look at a shot like this, unless something went wrong, like a person walking into the picture from the edge just as I tripped the shutter, I never think, "What can I do in Photoshop to improve it?" I usually think something like "Got to try for better positioning next time." If you're serious about street photography you'll walk miles and miles and miles and shoot a lot of pictures, and end up with very, very few that are exhibition grade. Here's one of my favorites. If I get one like this a year I figure I'm doing great.
[attachment=15653:Denver_Art_Museum.jpg]
Just keep shooting. It's obvious from the shot you posted that you've got the hang of it. It just takes a lot of work.
