Not much PP. Just muted the tones using gradient map (not sure that is the right way but it worked well enough for me) and did a vibrance layer to make the red pop a little.
My wife and I have 2 children and are considering adopting more. We have taken many classes to get certified to adopt and have become very aware of the problem of child abuse in America. With April being Child Abuse Prevention Month I figured it would be the perfect subject for this particular challenge. It is a subject my wife and I are very passionate about.
I had a long talk with my son before doing this shoot so I could be sure this would not scare nor psychologically damage him. I explained Child Abuse Prevention Month to him and explained how this picture could be used to help Moms and Dads realize they need to be nicer to their kids. When I was satisfied that no lasting effects would befall the lad we did the shot. He was playing baseball and laughing two minutes later. As a matter of fact he was laughing quite a bit during the shoot itself, which didn't fit the subject. I'll show some of those in the outtakes thread.
Like the post processing a lot, but one thing that is key in this image is the belt! It takes a few seconds to figure out what it is. I wish you had made the belt a little brighter so it would speak to us more loudly. After all it is a very important element in this photo. Make it jump out the screen and talk to us and not make us go look for it.
First off I have to say the lighting and set-up of the scene is technically excellent. Now comes the hard part - it is hard to say if this falls into the strong candidacy of sadness. The image itself speaks of fear and abuse very strongly. The sadness comes from your audience reaction to the image. Yes, looking at the scene, it makes me sad - Knowledge of the numbers of child abuse are too high and it's heartbreaking. But again the image itself does not contain sadness but it does very effectively evoke a reaction of sadness. It's a great photo and I do hope it finishes well. (not voting)
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