Portrait of an Urban Evangelist, East Oakland, CA

[MattBeardsley]

Hello LL,

I hope all are well.  I had a great portrait shoot on a street in Oakland this past week.  The subject, Rev. Harry Williams, is the author of Straight Outta East Oakland, http://www.soulshakerpublishing.com/pages/about.html

It's pretty straight-forward, technically, but these two shots have a very different feel.  Does anyone have ideas for which is a favorite or which is more successful?  Thanks for your input.  I've also posted them a bit bigger on my blog (I wrestled with the new forum software for a number of attempts, these files are tiny..): http://mattbeardsleyblog.com/2010/09/05/urban-portrait-shoot-rev-harry-williams-author-minister-street-evangelist/

Thanks!

[Chairman Bill]

One of those occasions when haloes aren't a considered a problem, I suppose 

Personal preference - the second shot, but B&W please 

[RSL]

Matt, I agree with Bill. The background is far too intrusive in color. Unfortunately it's still too intrusive in B&W. You were shooting a D3 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens and you probably were on full automatic because the aperture was f/14. With that lens you'd have been better off on Aperture priority with aperture set somewhere between f/1.4 and f/2 to drop most of that wall out of focus. Good shots though.

[Jeremy Roussak]

I agree with Russ. It's a good shot but the crisply-focussed wall is very distracting. It does look, though, as if selecting the wall in PS and adding a lens blur wouldn't be too difficult. Just a thought.

Jeremy

[MattBeardsley]

Thanks, guys, for some feedback.  It sounds like most of you find the backdrop pretty distracting.  I chose a wide aperture to render the scene sharply and allow a nice balance of strobe fill and bright daylight contrast.  I think the gritty look accentuates the urban setting, at least in the wide shot with "OAKLAND" as a backdrop.  Any thoughts about which image is stronger?

[Jeremy Roussak]

Any thoughts about which image is stronger?

The second, by a country mile.

IMHO.

Jeremy

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Yes, the second. And I prefer the B&W version.

Eric

[popnfresh]

I agree with those who said the wall is distracting. The subject needs more isolation from the background, so a shallow depth of field would have been called for. I also prefer the second shot, but I find the lighting distracting. The strobe makes it look artificial, imo.