Shot with my son and three of his friends. After an auto contrast adjustment and a quick, light USM, I converted to a blue tritone originally, but decided it was a bit too blue so I backed the hue and saturation down a bit more. Added grain. Cropped, resized for web.
Statistics
Place: 1 out of 215 Avg (all users): 6.9152 Avg (commenters): 8.5366 Avg (participants): 6.7745 Avg (non-participants): 6.9781 Views since voting: 10407 Views during voting: 561 Votes: 330 Comments: 172 Favorites: 25 (view)
I just thought I'd let you know that this shot is one of the first that I came across back in 2006 when I first discovered DPC. I found it to be very powerful then and in the ensuing years I've come back to it and found it to be just as powerful. I then realized that I never made it a favorite. That's fixed, now. Congrats on a magnificent shot.
Powerful picture with a thought provoking message. Ive seen it before in your profile, but never stopped to take a look. Compositionally, the triangle formed by your son, and the inverted one formed by the boyes in the BG work well. NIce pic.
i really love this powerful shot. at first glance, it made me want to cry. at second glance, it made me angry at the laughing kids.. and as i continue to look at it there are even more feelings i get from this photograph..
that's one thing that truly makes a photograph special - when it evokes emotion out of the viewer.
Sorry I haven't commented sooner hon, but I've been workin' through some issues. ;-) This is an awesome shot. Composition is spot on. Love the focus or I should say love the fact that the children in the background are perfectly unfocused. Love the bluish tonality. It makes the shot 'feel' sad. Very emotional.
You have hit on one of my favorite forms of post processing treatment. The duo- tri- quad-tone is such a powerful tool. Just by adjusting the tonality of a shot you can give it so many different feelings. If you changed this one redish for example you could change the feeling from one of sadness to one of rage. Try it!
I'm so glad to see that you have another ribbon in your collection. Gotta do some catchin' up now.
Yours always
TC
PS: Didn't vote or comment on this challenge. The subject matter is not one that appeals to me. I gotta queesy stomach... ;-)
Hi, Congratulations !!I want you to know that this simple photo deserved the blue ribbon. I originally gave this a 6, thought It was above average, and I probably should of scored this a 7. It deserved it. It's a nice photo that me and my whole family look at all the time. This photo speaks a thousand words.Great job...congratulations !
Great representation of pain Laurie. Especially poignant with the increased incidents of bullying in today's society. I think you really captured the feeling of a kid who doesn't fit in. Congrats on the ribbon. Very moving.
Congratulation Laurie. Looks like I am a bit late :)
Really enjoyed this one, and I am sure that almost eveyone of us can relate to one of the sides in the image in some way. I sure can and loved the way you had captured it. And I bow now.
Congrats Laurie.
I've been away from DPC now for 2-3 weeks - fighting the addiction :) - and it's good to see you in top form. The PAD seems to be showing some results, so I probably should get back to mine :)
Three big hearty cheers for laurie. A captivating capture which radiates the essence of the challenge without physical blood. An image that has a longevity way above and past the challenge. Congratulations on your well deserved blue.
I don't think I've ever seen so many post challenge comments! Superb.
Glad my not having time to vote didn't affect where this finished. It caught my eye while browsing the entries and deserved a comment though.
I did enter or vote on this, I could not come to showing my pain. I am glad you won with this shot, you have really came out and showed us something, weather set up or not. Its like the Eagles sang.. I can't tell you why. I would have gave you a 10, for showing us all, how kids can be so hateful at times....Peace Mark Thomas Kelsay
I didn't get to vote in this challenge, but this shot is PERFECT!!!! You can really feel the kids pain, probably because you shot something that all of us can relate to. Awesome.
I'm so pleased to discover this EXCELLENT photo was yours !
Well done Laurie !!!!
You have shown us the pain with a story , not only a sad or painful face , you took all the situation.
Well deserved ribbon !
WOW... not only is this a dreaded kid shot, but it also has the evil noise too! LOL
I'm so tickled that this won. I was kind of apprehensive about submitting it but I thought it represented pain very well and was something that could be universally related to no matter where you're from. Working with kids for over 10 years in middle and high schools, I've see this kind of pain frequently. I'm glad that others could connect with my vision. Thanks so much y'all! :o)
Very nicely done. Of all the topics you could have picked that would have been on target, this one touched everyone. Well, everyone except for the trolls. Congrats!
This is awesome! Congratulations! I love the way you edited it. I didnt even know what the grain was for ;) Thank you for leaving such good notes on your photo shop techniques:)
Awesome Laurie !!!
Congrats on another well deserved ribbon.
This shot is really good. Great tone, love the dof, and most of all you've tapped an emotion that so many people can directly relate to.
Super Duper job. :-)
Congratulations on your blue!
This one is wonderful! True pain without being revolting.
Not that this one is an "easy view". Makes me feel the pain so well.
But it's a wonderful photo in any way. The DOF is great, the toning do wonders, the grain works so well...
You are so well deserve your ribbon!
I didn't vote on this challenge but I would have definitely voted this high. I must admit I'm a bit jealous though...I'm am the poster child for outcasts....how come I didn't think of this??? LOL Anyhow, very well done :dance
wow.. you pulled a 6.915 out of the vote dump! Awesome!
This truly *is* the best image of the challenge.. (for a change, lol), and I'm so glad it's yours. Here's to hoping I can follow up with a ribbon in Self-Portrait. :)
congratulations on antoher ribbon... :) its a really great image... it for sure transmites pain, i like the way you focused the foreground and blurred the background. congrats
#47
I didn't realize that I hadn't commented yet. One of the reasons I connect so well with this photo is that *I* was the poor kid in the foreground.. all through my school years.
It's a pain that doesn't fade easily, if ever. To this day, I become a nervous wreck around people that I percieve as laughing "at" me.
This is the best emotional capture of pain in the challenge. Nice bokeh, b&w composition and good ages for your subjects. Some DPC'ers may not like the background (cars, street, etc.), but I think that it perfectly captures the time and place for a memory that we all share from our childhood. Great job (9)
one of the better ones I have come across so far.
too bad basic editing rules prevent burning... hot spot at the top is distracting.
great work, though. (8)
oop- coming back to bump to 9. this is one of my favorite 3 in the challenge, despite the technical issue I mentioned above. Aside from that one spot, the composition is great, and this more clearly conveys the *emotion* of pain than any other image in this challenge.
Being laughed at - it is frequently more painful than sticks and stones: so there is a considerable amount of irony and some cruelty in the old ditty. This photo instantly evokes this idea. The bokeh is perfectly suited to the subject; less would cause us to be confused about the subject, but more would cause us to miss the sneering laughter of the people in the background. Hollywood would cast a more photogenic person as the hero - someone more people could identify with - but the casting here seems more natural, more realistic.
In a kind of photojournalistic sense this photo is almost flawless. Yet somehow it lacks a 'come hither' sensibility, a prettyness or photographic elegance. A really good effort!
Great DOF, perfectly captured to still have enough definition on the background with the other kids still laughing. I really like this shot, good work.
Very effectively communicates emotional pain. Would like it better if the extreme background (the cars) were blurred to the point of not being recognizable. Still a ...9... on the strength of the subject - my top pick.
This is a very good take on Pain; so much more thoughtful than nails in fruit, or Tylenol. It's well composed and well executed; a totally convincing image. 9.
I think this is one of the better pictures in this challenge. Somehow a simple composition, an image that could be and possibly is a candid, conveys the pain of rejection and alienation quite well...good job (10)
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