The story behind the image:Dianne and I were wandering the streets around Campo dei Fiori in Rome. This wonderful poster of the very famous Italian actor Albertone - actually he was a Roman, and was a beloved resident and icon - caught our eye. The scene of him eating bucatini is from the 1954 comedy "An American Man in Rome".
(Albertone died in Rome in 2003. His funeral attracted a million mourners, the largest crowd of its kind - only surpassed by Pope John Paul II's funeral two year later.)
In this image shot by Dianne, the poster draws us in. From there we start to look around the image and see some classic Italian elements - the checkered tablecloths, the decaying facade of the building, the shutters, the terracotta colours, the shrine to la Madonna above the trattoria.
Above the shutters there was some washing hanging on a line, which can be seen in the composition below.
This image is pleasant enough, although I prefer the first image where the strong foreground interest with the poster and tables dominating the image works well. The image above just has too much in it and is lacking a strong point of interest. When composing your images, you need to remind yourself every now and then that less is more.
With that in mind, I focused on the shrine. These are everywhere in Italy. As you walk the streets, remember to look UP!
Photoshop post-production:
Dianne used a levels layer (to increase contrast).
Equipment and settings used:
Camera - Canon EOS 400D
Settings - f9, 1/200s, ISO 1600, auto white balance, landscape picture style (for rich colours), shot in JPEG
Lens - Tamron AF 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) LENS
Focal length: 18mm
Happy shooting and Buona Pasqua (happy easter!), from Lisa and Dianne at Capture Italy.
www.captureitaly.com
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