St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

snails_pace has graciously volunteered their WPC 1330 - Urban Decay RESULTS entry for critique and analysis to find out what they could have done to make it better. Be nice, but be honest as this will help everyone with their craft. Thank you snails_pace and thank you everyone!

from WPC 1330 - Urban Decay RESULTS http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/photo_contest_ratings.jsp?pcnum=70

The human toll - chronically unemployed, disabled vets, those who have dropped out of a society they don't feel a part of - urban decay has a very real human side

1066 Loc: England

I was going to say that it would have been better taken head on at the guy so his facial features would have went more with "the moment". But sometimes in life you have to capture "The moment" as it happens, and this is probably what you did. Perhaps you could have talked with him and asked if it was OK to take a couple of pics, alright, it would have cost a couple of $'s/£'s but then he'd be a winner and so would you. But definitely a thought provoking image, so well done.

snails_pace Loc: Utah

I appreciate the interest in my picture. I felt like I was "painted into a corner" as far as how it was cropped.

I wanted a gritty look and I believe I added in some film grain in PP. I gave some thought to using Focal Point to blur the background, but decided not to.

I photographed this man on a number of occasions and have some pictures that show his face - but decided I wanted to preserve some anonymity.

I gave him a few dollars every time I saw him. He never approached anyone and asked for money.

The original is in RAW - but here is a jpg that maybe has enough detail if someone wants to try a different edit. Feel free to "have at it".

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Thank you!!!

Chinaman Loc: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

You did a great job with the cropping. My first impression was that it was a HDR in B&W, with the harshness and haloing. I feel the picture looks like an over sharpened and highly reduced (file size) jpg image. I'm sure that is not the case, just saying that it has that kind of look. The tonal range may not be wide enough - too much of the dark grey. I understand your decision to maintain anonymity but this is a photo contest and on the whole, judges like to look at the faces. It is a good image content-wise, and you were probably beaten to the post by better images.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

I think your point could be made better by a different crop. Close behind him on the left, cut off some of the top, come in on the right to show one of the cars. Play with the cropping. He's still the story, but there's no context with your tight crop, no sense of "Here's this unfortunate decay in the midst of prosperity." It's a different story.

rondotb

as a PP novice, can someone explain the bright white fringe/edge around the subject and how to get rid of it?

I tried something similar on a recent poor quality photo of mine to show psychological isolation of the subject from the rest of the world. The approach was to include psychologically contrasting background, as suggested above, plus focal black and white on the face with saturation reduced to leave just a touch of color, to make it stand out from the background and minimize the tree growing out of the head, plus a touch of vignetting (which i see is a little heavy). placed the subject at the 1/3 vertical line on the left side. Left a piece of tree and lightpost on the left to tower over subject, emphasizing his smallness. needs to be viewed in a larger format.

Also tried a tighter B&W crop like the original, which definitely has more impact on a small format. it seems that cutting off part of the head and back makes the figure "jump" out of the picture. All done on picasa.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

The fringe often occurs due to excessive sharpening. Do a search here or elsewhere on the subject of sharpening to get a better understanding of what occurs, the variety of ways to do sharpening, and the various side effects.

spinkick Loc: Watseka IL

IMHO urban decay involves building roads etc that are in serious decline. This is a pic of a guy in a well kept area. Just doesn't fit the topic. But as for the photo its very nice especially in B&W. Only thing I would have done different is clone out the suitcase handle

CardinalLady Loc: Hoosier

Great shot. I felt even more so after seeing the original. B & W, grain, the norm in the late 60's, early 70's. It brings us and him back to the time that shunned and abandoned him. A time he has never escaped, a time he can not move beyond. How can we justify the neglect of these soldiers? How can we even look him in the face? I feel the side view added much to the mood of the photo. A sad, but dramatic view of Urban Decay.

Chinaman Loc: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

I had a look at the winning entries and now that I have paid more attention to the title, the voters felt your entry did not come across as well as the others did. A lot of times, photographers have an emotional connection to the image that viewers cannot pick up. The full and correct message is not received. You tried to show a different concept of urban decay to the others, but it seems like voters related more to the straightforward interpretation of the term ‘urban decay’ than a more obtuse one.

Photography is still very much considered a poor cousin of Art, mainly because most (not all) photographs are depictions of real objects – a record shot. Recently, there was a list of the most expensive photographs ever sold. The top image that cost 4.3 million dollars was a simple image (see below). Most of the comments were sheer amazement(to use a mild phrase) that someone paid that amount of money for a simple image like that which could be taken by any Dick, Tom or Harry – even the buyer himself. And we all have images way better than that which we send to the recycle bin without a second thought! If it was a painting, nobody would blink an eye as to the cost and every viewer would have their own interesting interpretation of the image. In the history of Art, there have been trends over time, most were negatively looked upon to start with, but eventually accepted. In more than a hundred years of photography, we still think the best image is one that is well composed and exposed, sharp, with good tonal range and contrast, straight horizons and uprights, properly lit, etc, i.e. a true enough representation of the actual view/object. The point here is that most of us view a photograph as a record shot and have a hard time accepting it if it is ‘arty’ or too obtuse in its message. I include myself in this group. And until people change the way they think and look at photographs, the next 100 years will be the same and arty photographs will remain in the fringes.

CardinalLady Loc: Hoosier

I quickly picked up on the concept of Urban Decay but I have 5 generations of military: Grandfather, father, husband, son in law and now grandson. I have seen and experienced the way they were treated, the way they thought and the effects it had on them, defending their country, our freedoms and being dedicated to that cause. We would all love it if everyone would just be friends. I would say the majority of our young people could care less about current affairs and haven't given a thought about what would happen if we didn't have a military. I am also an artist so I know that also the majority of people think along the lines of it needs to match my sofa. Photographs, now considered a form of art, especially since pp and creativity have produced some magnificent pieces, are more than a chronicle. 10 people voting on snails pace's photograph tells me that there are people in this forum that have an open mind and look beyond the obvious. Photographers who want to look deeper and see interpretations that challenge your mind, emotions and life in general. Like Picasso, you will never truly appreciate his work until you desire to understand and connect to his concept. The problem is not with the artist or photographer not conforming to what we want to purchase but with a public that has no desire to be challenged to step out of their box and see beyond the surface. Creativity is progress made by those who dare to imagine new ways of interpreting the day to day, thus new ideas are brought to fruition in every aspect of life. Are you forward thinking? Did you dream of flying, of other worlds, a way to travel without horses, tv, phones, cell phones, communication through the air, no wires, a trip to the moon? Most of these concepts started with an artist dreaming about what could be, not people who have no desire to see or understand only what's on the surface. One of my soap boxes, hope you are "challenged," like the topic suggests. I loved and appreciated those who creatively chronicled the decay of so many magnificent structures of the past. It is so sad that these works of art are being lost. Great challenge this week. If you're not studying these photos each week, you are missing out on some pretty terrific pieces of art, obvious, creative or abstract.

photoshopmikey Loc: Boston Ma.

snails_pace Loc: Utah

I appreciate all of the comments. Interesting to see what other people think the picture is about. And if it has a few people thinking about it ... all to the good.

I usually don't enter contests and could care less about winning them. When I looked through the pictures for Urban Decay, I felt like something was missing - which is why I put a picture of the homeless man in.

As far as meeting the theme .... I don't know where the homeless spend the night. I understand shelters can be dangerous places. There are run down areas within 6 or 8 blocks of where the picture was taken. If you wanted donations from passers-by .... would you sit out in front of an abandoned warehouse or walk 6 or 8 blocks to where there was a lot of traffic of people that are relatively well off? I think the number of homeless that I saw is symptomatic of urban decay.

I feel that cleaned-up versions of the picture free from "flaws" are missing the point and have little emotional interest.

CardinalLady made my day. She can "see" the picture as it was intended. That alone makes my effort worthwhile. Thank you for your comments.

And just another note - when I got home, converted some pics to black and white, and worked on them ... I became disturbed by what I saw. I had some understanding of the challenges of that some others are having. Wish I felt more comfortable about taking pictures of other people in street photography.

I'll side-step the last post without comment ....

A couple of other pics from the same day:

This one makes me feel really bad - that someone so young feels like this is his place in our current society

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Thought provoking captures.