Has this photo made you think at all, do you get any emotional feelings when you look at it?
If it has then my job is complete
i bet i'll get scored down for the gore, oh well i don't mind. This is exactly 100% how i visioned this one.
all taken in the same night. I'm not sure how to really put all the settings and everything for 3 seperate photos.
and for PP i didnt do much, just like half desaturation, lots of dodge n burn to have things stand out,USM,contrast and resize i think
Statistics
Place: 127 out of 244 Avg (all users): 5.7391 Avg (commenters): 7.3548 Avg (participants): 5.5980 Avg (non-participants): 5.8516 Views since voting: 2164 Views during voting: 562 Votes: 230 Comments: 56 Favorites: 2 (view)
a good set of images, on the whole, and a challenging and well represented topic. i do agree with the comments about the top two images - not as strong as the bottom at all. in my head i'm seeing a close up of her hand, limp and bloodied, maybe beside her head with a vacantly staring eye, and his hands gripping the shovel. then you'd have a continuum of imagery as well as theme.
well done, the colour, tonal range, and everything is spot on. god work.
I think it would have received less low scores without the "dead" girl. I really like the other two shots...you know what has happened and I think it is more powerful to see the aftermath without the actual offence. It's all well done though.
I'm completely unaffected by the blood, so taking that factor aside I would give it a 6 or 7[didn't vote]...I adore the destat look and your attempt at story telling...
my problem is that the top two pictures are not very strong for me .. they're functional for the story telling but don't add more... Instead of the potrait you should have gone for a more wider shot that looks less posed.. I think domestic violence is a good topic to go for but people, I think, want to see more of the home setting.. perhaps you missed a link in the story telling and instead of going straight to the murder you could have shown the story of how she lived before her death.. I do find it quite unfair that people can't think beyond how squicked out they are and give out 1s but that's the way the cookie crumbles..
I didn't vote either, but I like it. I don't particularly like the inclusion of the girl's face, almost like it gives too much away, and she's a little too pretty for the mood. But I really like the picture of the hands, it has a great aesthetic.
I must say it brings up all sorts of feelings for me and none of them nice - I'm wondering if because of that I would instinctively vote it lower because it made me feel bad?
I guess unless I'd come across it in the challenge during voting I'll never know, but that's my first thought, I wonder if others voted that way too.
I promised you a more detailed comment - it is totally the subject matter that I don't like in this. I find it offensive. So, I skipped it in voting (and just left the comment) because I didn't want to vote you down just because I dislike the subject.
Technically, I think this is a great set of shots. My very few technical suggestions are - - the top right photo is a bit dark on the left side, especially contrasted against the girls photo. I might suggest that you do a vertical flip the shot of the guy digging to even out the lighting in the top two. Also, on the bottom shot, the horizontal bar above the sink detracts a bit, you could have perhaps cropped it a bit to remove that. And, I would also suggest cropping up by about the same amount from the bottom of the image, to remove a bit of the extra arms, so overall, cropping in tighter from the top and the bottom, but leaving the sides as they are, since the tightness on the sink really draws the eye into the center of the overall triptych. If I could have voted without dropping your score due to the subject matter, I'd have given this a 7 or 8.
I gave this a 6 because it is fairly powerful and has good impact. But the simple facts are that you will get voted down by people who see stuff they don't like to think about.
I think maybe a different, "horror movie" title like people are suggesting might have given you a slightly better score, but I'm glad that you titled it what you did. Makes us think more.
IMHO, you hit a very emmotional nerve in subject title, people do not wish blood, and this type of image in an excapism to photography, most like to get away from reality of this type. For the record I gave a 4 for this very reason.
So I have read the thread and the comments below and feel that there is a lot of good feedback there! I am just going to tell you what I thought about the picture as I was voting.
I thought that this was very impactful, both visually and emotionally. I do not like staged shots that are trying to look real but don't. Yours, while having a bit of a fake element to it (specifically, I think she's too white for it to have been done recently, and I would have liked to see more messiness on the male's clothes), did a good job at not looking too staged! So I was impressed by that. Especially the blood... so many pictures with fake blood look like it's tomato juice or paint, and this looked pretty good.
I think definitely that the upper right picture doesn't fit as well with the others. It's too dark, color-wise. Perhaps if this had been a vertical or horizontal triptych, with that in the middle for balance, it would have worked. I don't like the orange lights on the back of the shirt, either.
As I said before, I like the half-desaturation. I think it gives it a definite "creepy" feel. I also like the poses of the models and think that they helped things feel real.
Don't be discouraged about your 1's and 2's. As has been stated, images with "wow factor" can be scored highly despite the technicals, so it makes sense that it works the same way. If anything, be *encouraged* - because that "ew factor" coming out in the votes lets you know that you got a definite reaction and you made people feel that they were looking in on something very bad and wrong. You did a great job with portraying that, and the high scores but also the low scores reflect that.
this is a very cool photo that tells a story.
challenge-wise i think it made good use of the triptych rules. though i think the weak frame is the one of the guy and the shovel - it doesnt seem to fit in too well with the other 2 frames, technical wise.
I gave you an 8, so I guess I understood what you were trying to achive with this crime tryptich. As troubling as it is, it tells a story and the washing hands image caps it off...I hate crime, but it's out there...well photographed
I have to kinda agree with Art. If you'd gone with a title that might have fit with old pulp fiction or a B movie it would be less offensive (which would have knocked off a few ones and twos) and more macabre.
That aside I like the series and the bottom frame really ties the three shots together really well.
This series kinda reminds me almost of the scene in the first Evil Dead where Ash has to kill Linda.
Sorry to repost here, but I feel it might be necessary. Domestic violence isn't just slapping around and being abusive. It leads to death. If a person does not get out of an abusive relationship, it can and does lead to death. Read the papers. Not all domestic abuse is marital.
The technicals are all excellent. The half desat works well. Frankly though, it looks like a cover for a horror flick or book. The title alludes to some public awareness of domestic abuse, but the image is way over the top of that message and doesn't fit well, IMO. My guess is that if you had a title like "Til Death Do We Part!" or something Hollywoodish or dramatic, it would have increased your score by .0281
As for the makeup and realism - I think you did a decent job on all counts including the use of the white tank top, aka "Wifebeater Shirt"
Your photo does hold the views attention. I feel there should of been a rugged separation between the panels to go along with the theme and mood, instead of running the panels together. Nice creativity.
Gave you a 4, but not because of your subject. Overall, you do a good job of trying to use three distinct pictures to try to tell a story, but none of the individual pictures stand up on their own. The one on the upper left looks fake, and focuses only on the gore while ignoring the emotion of your subject. The one on the upper right is just uninteresting ... perhaps useful to tell a story, but you can't even see the subject's face. Is he upset over what he's done? Is he scared? Looks like he is just digging a post hole. And the one on the bottom is just a detail shot, which again may tell a part of the story but the image itself is not all that interesting and doesn't deserve the position as the largest or most important pic in your composition.
Yikes - this looks very real. I hope it isn't! (I understand domestic abuse is all too real, but I hope this photo series was staged.) Well-taken, and very captivating.
Very powerful and very well done. At first I wasn't comfortable with her expression it just seemed too peaceful for such violence but the more I look at it the more I get the feeling of peace at last. The blood on the soap and the dirty sink is just perfect, I would have liked to see a scratch or bruise or something on him to say that she fought back...but then many don't. I applaud your courage at tackling such a difficult issue and doing it so well.
I work at a women's shelter here in KC, it's nice to see attention brought to this "dirty little secret" that is way more prevalent than is said. You did a nice job also of not making this look gratuitous (sorry, spelling is bad).
=o
Here's someone who would literally kill for a ribbon.
=P
Great image.
I like the way that all three are of different things in different locations but still closely related and telling a powerful story.
They all maintain the same feeling as well.
Ten from me.
=)
It's not dandelions and children (thanks for the variety), but it IS very well done. I do think a different title could be more fitting for the viewer. IMHO, this screams "Homicidal Maniac" more than "Domestic Abuse."
I'm having a hard time getting past the grossness of this image to even consider any technical merits. There are some who probably like this type of imagery - personally I find it a bit offensive. JMO of course. Good luck.
Woah, you shooting a horror movie there fella? I think this is a little too OTT for DPC. You've got some great make up skills there but this is a little too in your face. There's domestic abuse and then there's murder.
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