Too much space or nicely open?

[Shanghai Steve]

Hi all
I took this the other week and am very pleased with the texture and tonal balance, but am unsure whether the large expanse of wall on the left adds or detracts from this shot. Any other comments welcome of course.

p.s. I'm sorry, I can't seem to get this shot uploaded in a satisfactory size/sharpness.

[Inkanyezi]

The size is limited for upload on the forum, so there are other means to display larger sizes, mainly posting them somewhere else on the web and linking the image in the post here.
When you open the dialogue in the tools strip of the editing frame for putting an image in the post, it asks for an URL, which implies that you store the actual bytes elsewhere.

I think the open space is quite ok, but the element I find disturbing is precisely the sharpness, where a decent portion of unsharpness would have been expected. The very short shutter time has frozen the movement, while a panning motion and a slower shutter might have given a more dynamic impression of the couple riding scooters, implying speed and motion.

[ionian]

Hi Steve - have a read here for help on uploading images:
HELP THREAD: How can I post images here?

I like the space - if anything I think it would benefit from a little more space at the bottom and on the right hand side. I'm a fan of close crops in most images, because I believe we need to do all we can to help focus the viewer's eyes, but in this case your subject needs a little more space to breathe.

Nice processing and a great image.

[Shadowman]

I think the composition would work either way, as is or square crop. Nicely captured and converted. As far as shutter speed used, it's good to have some variety in your captures, even better if you can accomplish the different shutter speeds within the same shooting sequence.

[Sergio M.]

It's a good image and the space seems fine. As has been mentioned, the shutter speed could have been different, but it's still ok as is.

Sergio

[Manfred M]

I'm in the too tight on the right and too much space on the left.

I like using negative space myself, but if the negative space does not contribute to the image and is starting to become a distraction and causes the image to look imbalanced, then there is too much.

[Shanghai Steve]

Thank you for the helpful replies. I rarely shoot with a high shutterspeed in multishot mode so, for me at any rate, this was a bit different. At full res there is enough texture in the faces and just a hint of grain which keeps the shot "alive" for a larger print. I am by no means a sports photographer: I learned that at the SH GP! Trying my hand at shooting F1 cars was...humbling. But I did get this one last year, which I was very happy with. This was as shot and IMHO, somewhat fortuituous.

[davidedric]

I'm in the too tight on the right and too much space on the left.

I'm with Manfred on this one. The balancing of the left and right spaces detracts from the image, for me. I'm mentally comparing it with Ashish's recent Yak Ride shot, where I found the "unbalanced" space worked well (though I seem to recall I was in the minority).

Dave