For being a photojournalist picture I don't think this one actually quallifies. Mostly becouse a editor would never post a picture of a dead hand in the paper. Atleast not here in iceland. :)
But appart from that I think Fotoman_Forever actually covered the whole problem with the pic under this. Some contrast would make this picture better and even a different framing.
You said you got a lot of comments about being grey, and I have to agree with them. You definitely need to bump up the congrast in this image. I probably would have preferred it in color though. As far as the dead/not dead thing goes: I like the idea, but it's just not convincing.
Other aspects of the image:
Composition is not terribly interesting. I think you were trying to run this image on "shock value" and ignored other things that make a photo good.
Technicals such as lighting and focus are good, but easy to overlook.
All-in-all, I do believe that "faking" the scene hit ya the hardest though.
not photojournalism, im guessing this is posed. if you really found a body in a swamp there would be better things to shoot than a hand, also this has no real black or white, its just muddy.
Eeek, hope I don't see this in the paper! Must not have been there long, since I can see evidence of blood flow in fingers;) Hope you don't mind a little razzing; because I really like the image. The lighting, composition and focus are quite nice. Just a little more graphic than I'd expect to see in photojournalism.
This is probably posed, because the fingers are showing no signs of being in water for any amount of time. Other than that the photo is really, really grey and needs a bit more contrast.
The hand should be limp. If you flop your hand on the table you'll see that the fingers curl slightly. Maybe a bit of dirt/mud on the fingers. Good idea.
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