All with the 77mm. Too bad I forgot my ND4 filter at home and couldn't take all shots wide open. Any critique welcome.

[K-9]

Not sure why you want to take shots like this wide open. I want to see what is going on behind the girls in the first two shots. It sets the scene and puts them in their element. Blurring the background just makes it distracting lines in these examples.

Shot 3, both people are out of focus, especially the closer subject.

The 4th shot is blown to bits.

Shot 5 has some serious CA on the guy's gray shirt and the background. Too much PP?

[Ash]

Seemed like a fun day.
Unfortunately the shots are indeed off in one way or another.
As above, the biggest problem with these is being out of focus.
#4 and 5 seem to be OK in this regard but are unacceptably overexposed and disinteresting respectively.

[kristoffon]

Hello guys thanks for the feedback.

I think shooting wide open is the whole point. If you care to look at a couple shots from another photographer taken of the same subject with greater dof for comparison, here they are: 1 2. IMHO the unblurred background completely ruins the shots.

The whole point of shot #4 was blowing the picture. Only way I found to salvage it. I've attached to the post below the "original" picture. I think the way I processed it may not win any awards but is decent enough to show. Am I wrong?

Attached Images

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[xhanatos]

looking at your shots (1 and 2), it seems that you had time to move around. i don't know the scene but i think you would have been able to relocate so the background isn't distracting.

also, it must have been around noon time? the light looks pretty harsh.. but we can't really do much about that.. maybe shoot in spot metering?

[K-9]

^
Agreed. If the only way you can "salvage" a background is by blowing it out, then it wasn't a background you should have been shooting against. Move around to a different angle. Portraits are not only about the subject, as you always have to consider the background.

In street photography, you really do not want to always blur the backgrounds as with standard portraits. They are meant to show the person's element and surroundings. Also, if you are blurring the background to the point where your aperture does not allow your main subject to be sharp, that's also a no-no. You don't have to shoot lenses wide open to have blurred backgrounds.