Hola, Big Brother
by radarbrat

Comment:
pretty colors and good depth of field. interesting, but not something that makes me go, "Wow! I gotta go there!" 6

Blessed with a Grandchild
by ziggy_faw

Comment:
I did not vote in this challenge. For what its worth, I probably would have given you a 6. I like the depth of field, the focus is perfect, and I like the crop (I don't mind the top of the head missing). However, the red tones to the skin are less than pleasing and the shooting angle (down) is not pleasing. People often shoot down at children rather than at their eye level - makes me feel like I am menacing them by standing over them as a viewer.

As for DPc, to score better: People vote higher for the whole head, they expect a plain background, they probably thought the words on the shirt distracting, and the red tone makes it seem more like a snapshot. They like 'high-school' portrait style here mostly, so anything that varies must be perfectly executed.

Hope that helps. You've got a very beautiful child with great eyes for photographing.

Ivy wall
by Melethia

Comment:
excellent editing.

Used camera shopping
by Melethia

Comment:
this is just so odd. I can only think of the grim reaper and his need to capture the moment of death. truly a great find and capture.

Park world
by Melethia

Comment:
you did an excellent job with this. truly amazing.

Hello!
by Melethia

Comment:
wow. This is way cool. The echoing colors are great and the DOF gives this animal some emotional content that wouldn't otherwise be there. Excellent macro.

Watching 7
by Melethia

Comment:
must have been something fascinating going on! Are you keeping me in suspense on purpose? I love the toning on this one...

What? (In Honor of Leroy)
by scarbrd

Comment:
This is just too good. Way too good!!

The final stage is acceptance
by vawendy

Comment:
for what its worth, I prefer this one. the tree is more ominous, seems larger, the boy already looks defeated (in the other he still has a chance). One thing to remember is often the absence of color forces the eye to look at the shapes - emotion comes out more powerfully is there is not a central color to work off of (as in this image, the color is inconsequential to its meaning).

If I was going to shoot this image again, I would get closer to the boys side, at a lower angle, to put the tree in an even more overwhelming position.

when working in black and white, it is often easier to control the shades of gray the colors will turn out to be by working in your channels palette rather than layers - do a layer adjustment on each individual channel while viewing that channel only. In the case of this image, I manipulated the reds to turn out white and darkened the blues so the sky would be more ominous and the string and the kite tail would show up lighter and more visible (I popped it into photoshop quickly).

I liked this image for the challenge because it was a metaphorical end - you didn't beat me over the head with a literal end. Alas, I didn't vote, but probably would have gotten at least a 7...

duck tape makes silence
by oche

Comment:
there are many pictures in this challenge with tape over the mouth. According to some commenters, they were better; I disagree. This image shows silence of a different kind - a forced silence, a dangerous silence. Some of the others are trite - they are essentially just a person with tape over their mouth. With your composition, processing and toning, your image shows emotion. I really like it and think you did a great job generating a reaction from the viewer. At least this one. Forget the votes...