Galway is a city on the Atlantic Ocean in the west of the Republic of Ireland. An absolute highlight on our round trip. In this alley there are countless shops with the colourful, characteristic facades. They Quays is a famous pub with several awards. Even those who like Irish music are in good hands here. 
I would like to improve myself, and therefore ask for constructive criticism, suggestions for improvement, composition and all other parameters such as mood, structure...thank you very much for your answer and effort

Details: Camera Sony alpha 7, lens Sigma 18-200, aperture f/5, iso 100

hans konopiski

Hello Johann,

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for sharing this photo with us. The light, shadows, colours and details are fascinating. The statue is a special element of the image, and I wish perhaps she was situated on the right of the composition as she is looking slightly to the left. Because there are so many details, I wondered if a black-and-white version would work, so I'm adding one below. I have cropped the top of the frame and the right side slightly. I have also cropped the colour version quite considerably to create a version that gives a stronger focus on the statue. It's always up to you to decide whether to reject or accept our suggestions.

Good light, Elizabeth

Thanks for the tips and suggestions. I was pleased and am happy to accept the changes. The pub "the Quays" is an instruction in Galway, so I wanted to depict the name in the photo. I like the black and white version. My basic idea was to photograph a lively, colorful (red/blue) street scene, I didn't look so closely at the statue. But you're right, that's really very restless, and the cut is much better.

Thank you for the effort and your answer!

Greetings from Austria, and all the best for the new year

Hans Konopiski

It's a pleasure, Johann, and all best wishes to you for the coming year.

Elizabeth

Hello, Johann welcome to our forum and thank you for giving us the opportunity to help you improve your photographic skills. You chose a popular place to photograph. I can sense that there are more people around and that some did not make it into the composition. Sometimes difficult questions come into mind. One is how to photograph a place and show its characteristics in a refined way? I learned to ask myself questions. When I see your image, I can definitely say that it is about the pub. I can see the name very clearly and infer from the people sitting at the tables that it is a pub. This is important. I should reveal visually what my image is about. Now, things get a bit complicated when this image is being sent to curation on l x. This site has requirements for more peculiarities in our images in terms of light, composition, technical quality and creativity, to make the image standout from others.At this point we come to help the photographer by sharing our knowledge. My following advice is to help you improve in this field.

In terms of composition: first of all the name of the pub is well placed inside the frame. The tables on either sides are complimentary. Yet the statue on the bank and the bank itself overlap these, On the other hand it is difficult to exclude the bank from the image. You need a very wide lens and afterwards lots of cropping. So what could you have done better here? You could have taken the Lange from the same distance but by standing more to the left. In such a place that the woman on the bank were placed in front of the door and thus would not have overlapped with the other people in the limage. Unfortunately, you won't be able to change this at this point. This is a an advice for other times. In terms of light I can see shadows and bright light. These are always to our advantage unless we leave the subject in the dark. And let's look at color. There is good color value in your image. However, the color confuses the viewer as it makes it difficult to concentrate on specific areas. So. A black and white alternative helps to focus better on the subject. An artistic touch would be to keep the color red in the name of the pub. You can add a black and white layer mask and by using a white brush you can restore the red in the name.

That's all that comes to my mind for now. Have good light. Cicek Karl SC...

Thank you very much for the suggestions and constructive criticism. I have learned something again and will try to implement the ideas in my photos. It is a lot of fun and joy to be a member of this community.

Greetings from Austria

Hans Konopiski