First things first - I have not been dead a year or aday for that matter. When this challenge came up this was the first thing that came to mind. Not sure why but it did.
Took my family to a local cemetary that I had scoped out earlier. My wife wore a long black hooded coat and had my son dressed in his wedding best. It is so hard to get a 3.5 year old to pose this way and have him not move - "put your feet together, look down, put your hand down, put your feet together, look down, etc." Popped off a bunch of shots at a couple of headstones. This one had the pose I was basically looking for. He is holding a watch of mine in hopes that it would convey him grasping onto something of his fathers. Hope it can be seen.
POst process - levels, alot of burning and dodging (1 pixel brush size burning on watch band), minor cloning, alot of sat/desat, color variations, crop, unsharpen mask, light film grain, border resize. I was shooting for a Tim Burton kind of feel to this shot.
Come on guys - give me another 6.
Statistics
Place: 62 out of 197 Avg (all users): 5.8519 Avg (commenters): 7.3077 Avg (participants): 5.6786 Avg (non-participants): 5.9905 Views since voting: 1333 Views during voting: 316 Votes: 189 Comments: 25 Favorites: 0
I really like the atmosphere this conjures up, especially in the context of the challenge title.
I don't like the centredness of the boy, especially as it isn't exactly centred, but certainly not far enough from the centre to be on a third.
The watch is a subtle addition - I don't know whether I personally would be observant enough to notice straightaway, but thats not to mean it doesn't (even subconciously) add to the composition/atmosphere.
I also find the partial name distracting - I don't know whether it would be better with the full name, or a more common name like "Smith"
only thing i can think of.... unsure it would be better.... is ifn you could see the hair of the woman standing with him. i know that sounds odd.... but i wanna see that she has a head. i am unsure how much it would need to include but i think it would have been a better crop ifn i could see her head a bit.
I like the composition and colors. Certainly meets the challenge too. I read your comments...your son and wife are gems to participate this way. I would have scored this a 7 or 8. A simple, yet effective photo. Plenty of emotional impact (although I did not get the watch). Well done.
Trading post...
I gave you a 9 in voting on this one. It's technically very well done. I think what hurt your score is the discussion that went on in the forums about using children for these types of shots. Because your son knows his daddy I'm sure there is NOTHING wrong with this! My husband and kids are well used to mugging for the camera!
I think you executed this very well. The technicals are extremely good - lots of stuff I'd never think of to do to a picture, and it all hangs together well and doesn't look processed (that's the trick, I think.) My favorite part of the composition is not the watch, it's your wife's foot for some odd reason. I like the slight lighter section of the headstone near the boy's head, too. All told, this should well have been a 6 score, but I suspect the "does not meet challenge" came into play here. Maybe more "grief" or "sadness" than "desolation". On an unrelated to score note, I do wonder about setting up children for shots like this - isn't that a bit weird? Hopefully he understands it's just because his daddy has this obsession... :-) (Sue me, I can't type or spell...)
I'll only briefly comment as I know you know what you are doing and a 5.8 isn't a bad score. BTW, take a look at my image grain entry. Great minds must think alike.
The first beef, and it's small, is that I have no idea what he's holding in his hand. It's even worse because it's smack dab in the center of the picture and we puzzle over the object more than we take in the desolation of the picture.
I also don't quite like the way the word doesn't make sense. "apham"? We also puzzle about what name ends with "apham".
Those are small though. Just off the top of my head.
I missed the watch. Sorry! I thought you did a very nice job with composing the picture to included just enough of the mother for context with the focus still being on the young boy. Good, original thought for this challenge.
a very good photo to depict this word, nice choice and giving that sense and a sense of sadness, it really would make an impact if the watch that the boy was holding, i assume daddy`s watch, was more in focus, all in all a very nice job, thank you for sharing this special sad moment.
I saw this in my pass through the voting and decided not to vote on it. Technically, this image is great. Every detail down to the watch is well thought out and executed. But (don't you hate that?) Desolation for me implies a sense of space and time. This image gives me neither in anything except the title. I understand the connection with lonely and wanting but its not the same in desolation. See, that's why I stopped voting. :) Disconsolate, lonely, sad, much better challenge topic for this. At any rate, I was going to give you a six - 4 for techs, 2 for emotion, 0 for challenge topic. In another challenge, at least 7 or 8. As I said before, the technicals are excellent. The only thing I can figure is you are getting hit by people who believe, like I do, that desolation requires a sense of time and space. Let me know if that made sense or if you have any questions. I decided to vote on this challenge. Your image has been given a 7. I added 1 for challenge topic as there are more than a few whom met the challenge topic less well than this. Hope that made sense. :)
My first post on the forum - Wee bit of a tear in the corner of my eye there... The editing lasso lines, stamping, dodging and curves really stand out all over this image but you definitely nailed the spirit of the challenge. This particular daddy was deeply moved.
This photo is so emotive and sad. Yes. . .my heart feels desolate even looking at this one. But you did a great job depicting the theme. And I love your composition where you can only see a small part of the mom. Very nice work!
Well, this is one of the best yet. Love your attention to details (especially the watch the little boy is holding!). Great composition, very well done.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
