The first pass I took when editing this photo I used a much tighter crop, focusing just on the poster in the center. That was what had initially caught my eye, the poster, and the way the woman's hands and head were framed by the windows across the street. The common wisdom is that composition is as much about what you leave out as what you include, hence the tight crop. Still, something about that framing didn't work quite right for me—it just seemed incomplete. When I added back most of the original image, it struck me that not only did I like the couch, the vases, and the additional buildings in the reflection, but I also liked including myself. I like the idea of making the photographer's relationship with the image explicit.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens, in manual exposure mode. Aperture f/4, shutter 1/60 sec, ISO 200. Post-processing in Aperture 3: cropped to 4x5; curves for highlight recovery and contrast.

Thoughts for improvement: The only thing that's bugging me about this one is the way that the neon sign's pull-cord intersects the wine glass on the poster.

I mentioned Boone in Friday's post. As you can see, he was quite a character up-close. Turned out that he was pretty good with that harmonica, as well. I wonder what he's up to right now.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, in aperture-priority exposure mode. Aperture f/1.4, shutter 1/1000 sec (0 EV), ISO 200. Post-processing in Aperture 3: curves for highlight recovery; levels to darken blacks and brighten midtones; dodged over the subject; burned over the background.

Thoughts for improvement: I would have liked to be half a step back so as not to clip the brim of his hat off. Also, this probably would have been better stopped down to f/1.8 or f/2.

Just before I got back to my car on my last photowalk, I heard the sound of a ukulele coming from across the street. I stopped and turned, and saw this guy waiting for the bus. (Oddly, this was actually the second ukulele player I ran into that morning, but that's another story.) He saw me raise the camera to my eye and struck a pose, then shouted something as I started to leave.

We yelled at each other across the street for a minute, but the traffic was just too loud, so I ran across. Turned out that he was trying to give me his email address to send him the photo. I introduced myself. He said his name was Boone, and he told me about his ukulele, which he said he found in a dumpster and fixed up himself. I took a few closer shots, then we shook hands and parted ways.

I sent him the photos the next day, but I never heard back from him.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, in manual exposure mode. Aperture f/8, shutter 1/400 sec, ISO 200. Post-processing in Aperture 3: cropped; exposure +1; levels to brighten highlights and midtones.

Thoughts for improvement: This shot was taken from really far away, so I ended up having to crop out a lot, which, combined with the fact that I underexposed due to being in a hurry, meant a lot of extra noise and softness. I would have liked more contrast and sharpness.

(Excuse the pun. I couldn't help myself.)

Toward the end of my photowalk a couple of weeks ago I passed by a fast-food restaurant. Peeking in through the window, I was struck by the way the light wrapped around this guy—it almost looked like a painting.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, in manual exposure mode. Aperture f/8, shutter 1/400 sec, ISO 200. Post-processing in Aperture 3: straightened and cropped; curves for exposure adjustment and contrast.

Thoughts for improvement: The outside of the building may be a little hot—I can't quite make up my mind about that. I'm also not sure whether a horizontal crop might work better.

As I was walking down University Ave. on Sunday morning, I happened to look up and noticed the sun reflecting off the windows of this building, shining through the fog. It was such a dramatic scene, I had to stop and look at it for a few minutes before I even lifted the camera to my eye.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, in manual exposure mode. Aperture f/4, shutter 1/2500 sec, ISO 200. Post-processing in Aperture 3: cloned out a dust spot; cropped; levels to brighten highlights, darken midtones and shadows.

Thoughts for improvement: I don't know, I actually love this shot. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know in the comments.

Shortly after I took this picture, this woman—who I thought was way too engrossed in her coffee and headphones to notice me—gave me the stinkeye. I guess if you pick a table all the way at the back of the coffee shop at 7:30 on a Sunday morning, maybe you're looking for a little solitude.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, in manual exposure mode. Aperture f/2.8, shutter 1/125 sec, ISO 200. Post-processing in Aperture 3: straightened and cropped; -1 exposure; levels to set black point and white point.

Thoughts for improvement: Would have been nice to get just a touch further to the right so as not to cut off the car in the reflection.

The allure of shooting street is largely to do with mystery—the mystery of what I might out there, of what stories lie behind the apparent ordinariness. There's nothing quite like fog to emphasize that mystery for a photo.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX lens, in manual exposure mode. Aperture f/2, shutter 1/800 sec, ISO 200. Post-processing in Aperture 3: straightened and cropped; curves for exposure and contrast.

Thoughts for improvement: The palm trees sticking up over the railing make that part of the frame look a bit cluttered and draw the eye away from the intended focal point, which is the bus stop.

Behind the San Diego Convention Center atop a couple of extra-wide breakwaters are the Embarcadero Marina Park. On the south side of the southern breakwater is a little fishing pier, and on that pier there are often a bunch of pigeons. And fishermen and buckets and fishing rods, but I felt a little too intimidated to take pictures of them.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, in manual exposure mode. Aperture f/1.4, shutter 1/4000 sec, ISO 200. Post-processing: cropped; pushed recovery adjustment; two curves layers to reduce exposure and add contrast.

Thoughts for improvement: The main thing for this one is to do a better job getting the exposure right in camera. Either waiting for better light or using an ND filter would be good for that.

This is the other reflection shot I took on my downtown shoot two weeks ago. I'm not sure this one works quite as well as the one I posted on Monday, but I still like it. I'm definitely going to have to develop a real series around this idea.

Technical information: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, in manual exposure mode. Aperture f/1.4, shutter 1/1000 sec, ISO 200. Post-processing in Aperture 3: cropped in close; several curves layers for highlight recovery, black point, and contrast.

Thoughts for improvement: For a couple of reasons, I wish I had gotten in much closer. First, I don't particularly like the fence and the man's shoulder in the foreground. Second, I ended up cropping out about 3/4 of the image, which makes for a much lower resolution final image.

This one is a "B-side" from a quick shoot back in November. I had a really hard time deciding between this shot and a similar one when it was time to post. I ended up going with the other one because I liked the action of the wave and the textures in the extra rocks, but I've always liked the sparseness of this image and the roughness of the water. Which do you think is better?

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 55-200mm VR DX lens, in manual exposure mode. Focal length 200mm, aperture f/5.6, shutter 1/250 sec, ISO 400. Post-processing in Aperture 3: yellow filter BW preset; several curves layers for contrast and exposure adjustment; desaturated yellows; burned over the seal; intensify contrast brush over the water; added vignetting.

Thoughts for improvement: I can't decide if the vignetting is too heavy or not.