Get ready to get really bored.  JUST KIDDING.  I am going to talk a lot, but there will be photos.  Aren’t there always?

Anyway, here is our subject:

OK, obviously I didn’t take this recently because it was snowing sideways outside today.  I took this in June at Bethesda Terrace in New York.  I went down there to do some usual sort of perspective-arch shots that I do constantly and endlessly.  When I was done and standing inside Bethesda terrace, I noticed this performer preparing.  It was one of those moment when the shot just set itself up absolutely perfectly.  There was no question it was going to be an absolutely gorgeous shot.

As is usually the case in these instances, I stood there trying to be as incognito as you can possibly be with a giant camera around your neck.  I had my long lens on and she was pretty close by, but I thought it worked.  I stood and then I shot three photos.  She noticed, or maybe didn’t.

After I got home and took a look at the pictures, I made the decision to keep it mostly as was.  I adjusted the contrast slightly, brightened and sharpened.  This is pretty much standard for me when I shoot.  I wanted a photojournalism feel to the photo, rather than the insane collage of colors from Salvadore Dali’s acid trip that my photos usually look like.

I showed what I thought was a great photo to a bunch of my friends.  Most of them thought it was a fairly competent photo and nice, but one said it was cute and not much else and that it might have actually  been improved with some tweaking.  So, here above is the tweaked version.  I squared it and darkened the edges slightly to give it more of a fashion photo feel.

OK, lecture done.  Return to your lives now.