I decided to visit a different part of the city for some street photography, and headed up to the East Side of Providence, home of Brown University. One of the challenges of using street photography to provide my daily photo is having to decide which of the numerous subjects taken during one session will qualify. While I did take a half-dozen photos that will make it onto my Smugmug site, this one won the "photo a day" nod hands down. The graffiti was compelling to start, and the colorful storefront was and excellent study as well. What sealed the deal, though, was when this Brown University coed came out of the restaurant and adjusted her jacket while using the window as a mirror. With all the brilliant colors involved, I didn't even consider converting this to black and white. Those of you that have followed this project for a while will know just how much restraint that took! For the record, this restaurant is Louis Family Restaurant on Brook Street in Providence. I haven't eaten there so can't attest to the food, but it was crowded at noon and that's always a good sign.
Post processing started with a detail light filter in Topaz Adjust. I then adjusted adaptive exposure, regions, and contrast. The saturation was adjusted to lower the saturation quite a bit - the colors were a bit too overwhelming as photographed - and then a levels adjustment was added in PSE.
Before you said it, I was thinking, "This had to be in color." I love the sign too, as though someone considering the place might be thinking, "Is the food any good?" The student adjusting her jacket is just the right touch, just as you said.
@cejaanderson Thanks, Jane. It's funny... For years I would wait patiently (well, impatiently, actually) for people to move out of the way of what I wanted to photograph. Now, I find myself waiting equally impatiently for people to ENTER a scene! Until I started street photography, I never realized how much was missing from my photos by keeping people out of them.
I really like that her jacket is the same colour as the frames. Fabulous capture, Ron.....I love the composition and colours, and the grafitti is wonderful! I may have to check that place out the next time I'm on the East Side :-)
@allisonraposa Thanks, Allison! The East Side has so many small, interesting restaurants that it's hard to know where to start. Now, if only there were ample parking in the area...
@kannafoot Ha! Ha! I told Charlie today that instead of hiking like we were doing, you would set up your tripod and the horses would come to you. I guess you are a people whisperer!
Fabulous on so many counts -- the composition, of course, the colors (really? you had to tone them down?) the fold-down tables in case you way to sit outside, and you can't overlook the promise on the awning for "Good Food."
@jyokota Thanks, Junko! lol You should have seen the colors before I toned them down. To put it in perspective, I lowered the saturation by 25% in Topaz Adjust. The reds, particularly, were overwhelming.
@cejaanderson ROFL It's funny you should say that. Back in '95, I took a vacation out to the Pacific Northwest. There's a park on a high mountain plateau in Washington called "Hurricane Ridge." The scenery is fantastic, but what really draws people are the herds of deer that brazenly wander the fields. I setup along the edge of the field photographing this large buck that was lounging less than 10 feet from me when I suddenly felt something licking my arm. I looked down and this doe had come up behind me and apparently thought I'd make a good salt lick. I did hear a few cameras click and was rather disappointed to be the subject and not the photographer that got that photo!
@kannafoot -- wow -- 25%? I like your sense of color balance here. BTW, I want to ask about smugmug because your high resolution images are much better than simply using the magnifier on this site. How large a file can you upload to smugmug? Is there a fee associated with that site? I used to keep all my photos on Apple's Galleries until they discontinued it. I have a flickr site for my work related photos and someone else maintains it. I need to figure out how to set up an online photo album where I can share photos with others and allow them to download images they want.
@jyokota I don't believe there's a size limit on files uploaded to Smugmug. I know some of mine have exceeded 25 MB without issue. As to a fee, there are numerous price plans that offer a variety of features and storage options. The top tiers are unlimited storage, which is really what I wanted since I am approaching my 10,000 photo mark and have 45 GB in used space so far. Check out their various pricing options since it really varies by what you need.
@kannafoot 10,000 photos, all saved in RAW? I'm sure I have taken that many, but not sure how many I actually have stored on various hard drives. My problem is that since starting 365, I have multiple libraries, multiple hard drives, and it's getting more and more scattered. I think I have to have a system in place. I will check out smugmug and see if that's a good option for a cloud-based back up of the physical drives I have at home. Thanks for info.
@jyokota I don't upload my RAW files to Smugmug, but yes, that's 10,000 photos all shot in RAW and saved on my system. I have 6 TB of external hard-drive space locally to save three copies of the JPG, RAW, and PSD files. They're also saved online to Livedrive.
I absolutely love this shot, Ron, and it's definitely worth keeping in color! I especially love how it's divided into three parts by lines and graffiti, and the pose is something unexpected but fits well here too! (and yes, the girl must have known you'll be shooting so she put on the jacket which is the same color the restaurant is decorated with!! Brilliant!!)!
"For years I would wait patiently (well, impatiently, actually) for people to move out of the way of what I wanted to photograph. Now, I find myself waiting equally impatiently for people to ENTER a scene! Until I started street photography, I never realized how much was missing from my photos by keeping people out of them." - can you imagine, I've been through all this too :) Now I can't even capture a landscape until some stranger enters my viewfinder!
November 6th, 2013
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@trenaspics Thanks, Trena! It's definitely a busy shot.