Looking for the way home. many layers - two screen, one multiply, one high pass, one noise, one usm full size, one usm web size. i think that's it. o, and ken lee quadtone tweaked to my own warm b&w.
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Once upon a time a very poor woodcutter lived in a tiny cottage in the forest with his two children, Hansel and Gretel. His second wife often ill-treated the children and was forever nagging the woodcutter.
"There is not enough food in the house for us all. There are too many mouths to feed! We must get rid of the two brats," she declared. And she kept on trying to persuade her husband to abandon his children in the forest.
"Take them miles from home, so far that they can never find their way back! Maybe someone will find them and give them a home." The downcast woodcutter didn't know what to do. Hansel who, one evening, had overheard his parents' conversation, comforted Gretel.
"Don't worry! If they do leave us in the forest, we'll find the way home," he said. And slipping out of the house he filled his pockets with little white pebbles, then went back to bed.
All night long, the woodcutter's wife harped on and on at her husband till, at dawn, he led Hansel and Gretel away into the forest. But as they went into the depths of the trees, Hansel dropped a little white pebble here and there on the mossy green ground. At a certain point, the two children found they really were alone: the woodcutter had plucked up enough courage to desert them, had mumbled an excuse and was gone.
Night fell but the woodcutter did not return. Gretel began to sob bitterly. Hansel too felt scared but he tried to hide his feelings and comfort his sister.
"Don't cry, trust me! I swear I'll take you home even if Father doesn't come back for us!" Luckily the moon was full that night and Hansel waited till its cold light filtered through the trees.
"Now give me your hand!" he said. "We'll get home safely, you'll see!" The tiny white pebbles gleamed in the moonlight, and the children found their way home. They crept through a half open window, without wakening their parents. Cold, tired but thankful to be home again, they slipped into bed.
Next day, when their stepmother discovered that Hansel and Gretel had returned, she went into a rage. Stifling her anger in front of the children, she locked her bedroom door, reproaching her husband for failing to carry out her orders. The weak woodcutter protested, torn as he was between shame and fear of disobeying his cruel wife. The wicked stepmother kept Hansel and Gretel under lock and key all day with nothing for supper but a sip of water and some hard bread. All night, husband and wife quarreled, and when dawn came, the woodcutter led the children out into the forest.
Hansel, however, had not eaten his bread, and as he walked through the trees, he left a trail of crumbs behind him to mark the way. But the little boy had forgotten about the hungry birds that lived in the forest. When they saw him, they flew along behind and in no time at all, had eaten all the crumbs. Again, with a lame excuse, the woodcutter left his two children by
themselves...
Statistics
Place: 46 out of 82 Avg (all users): 5.3918 Avg (commenters): 6.5455 Avg (participants): 5.0833 Avg (non-participants): 5.4620 Views since voting: 1745 Views during voting: 360 Votes: 194 Comments: 16 Favorites: 0
Thanks for sharing the story. I like the shot, but I'm not surprised people didn't connect it well to the better-known breadcrumb part. I think it might have been a better tie-in to put a few rocks leading away, as opposed to the jumbled circle.
Awesome. The shallow dof is perfect here, and the duotones perfect. I love how there is a glow of light further on in the image, it ties everything in nicely.
Love the black and white, love the texture. I am going to assume that this is a piece of bread and not a rock. The white puff up top pulls my eye though. Would have been a great use of space had that been cropped out imo. The black and white treatment of the photo is nice and makes it stand out from the other Hansel and Gretel pics.
Ok, I admit I don't get the title at all. That being said my score isn't based upon MY understanding. My score is based upon the shot. I like the portrait orientation, and the way you have used DOF background blur. The light at the top of the shot adds interest for me and while I am sure there will be those that mark you down for challenge relevance, but for me the shot stands on its own. Very nice shot.
What a clever idea and I love the sharpness and focus on the signle stone. The blurred light in the distance works well although possibly I would have preferred to see a couple of other bokeh stones further down the pathway rather than immediately behind the stone
Stones to mark the way? Got the idea. But, aren't there specific shapes you use to mark a trail, like to show turns and stuff? It's not clear that this is anything more than random rocks, and the bright light at the top isn't grabbing my imagination.
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