Gargoyle and Grave

MikeK

OK, Here's two more images for your consideration.

1) Fallen



2) Eternal View. And they misspelled my name...




I hope you find the second image as darn creepy as I do.

The first image is of a 6' long gargoyle that spent most of the past 100 years at the top of a 100' church tower. Until it fell off and plunged right through the roof of the church. I really like the contrast (and different perspective) of something that you are usually gazing up at, sitting at the top of the world, guarding against evil spirits, now laying on the ground out back behind the dumpster, forgotten.

So do either of these work for you?

richtersl

The second image is SUPER!!!! Great take on the theme.

Can you show us a b&w version of that one with the design in the upper end of the tombstone brought out a bit more? I think that doing that one in b&w will add to the "creep factor".

The first shot also is very good, but a little light on the theme for this challenge. The empty bag of Cracker Jacks just makes that entire photo SO bizarre. That would make a neat entry for a photo exhibit.

MikeK

richtersl wrote:

Can you show us a b&w version of that one with the design in the upper end of the tombstone brought out a bit more? I think that doing that one in b&w will add to the "creep factor".

I knew that was coming. Yes, B&W definitely needs to be done to compare against. I'm thinking a B/W version made to look like night with a moon up there might be cool too.

Thanks!

Kinkajou

Oh yeah, #2!

I agree about the BW conversion for it though, might be nice to see what it looks like. I'd also try to make the letters on the tombstone pop just a little bit more.

Really creative (and creepy) shot!

adbsgicom

#2. Very disturbing perspective.

sherstone

I'm hoping I can hold off on #2 becoming "My daily view" for a few more years.
creepy and perfect for the theme!

CoryUT

Great idea for the theme with #2! I like it. I think it needs a little bit cropped from the right side for symmetry (and the sun is a bit distracting), and I agree that a moon background would beat the trees.

MikeK

OK, here's a BW version, with a few tweaks. Better? Not?

adbsgicom

The B/W is much stronger. You focus 100% on the stone.

sherstone

MikeK wrote:

OK, here's a BW version, with a few tweaks. Better? Not?

For me; I find that the B&W gives us less. Less definition between stone and background. Less or even lack of the cool sunstar. Less contrast.

richtersl

I find that the lettering and the stone itself really pop in B&W. I think that to pull the eye even more toward the stone, you can experiment with a vignette.

divamum

sherstone wrote:

For me; I find that the B&W gives us less. Less definition between stone and background. Less or even lack of the cool sunstar. Less contrast.

I prefer the colour one, too. Can you experiment with some colour processing (LR presets etc) to perhaps find a nice moody look to the trees and sky?

GREAT idea for a shot

MikeK

Interesting split between preferring the color or B/W. I'm tossed myself. You would think B/W would be perfect, but I'm not sure there is enough tone variation to make it quite right.

That sun star. I purposely used that shot because of the star, then there was one comment that it was distracting, so I removed it. Thoughts?

I can definitely do another run with color and balance out that over exposed sky a bit. I'll post something like that in a bit.

Thanks for your thoughts!

MikeK

While I work on an improved color version with the trees, here is a different stone with a night time look.

How does this one compare to the other two options?

richtersl

MikeK wrote:

While I work on an improved color version with the trees, here is a different stone with a night time look.

How does this one compare to the other two options?

I really like it and the mood it generates. You might want to consider cropping some of that dead (no pun intended :eek1) space from the top, though.

sherstone

The night version is really good! Much better contrast.

MikeK

OK, here are the three contenders. Which one do you like, and what would you tweak on it?

This has been a suprisingly tough round, I'm really happy I finally came up with something that got a good reaction.

Thanks for all your help!


1) Daylight Reworked



2) Daylight B/W




3) Night

MikeK

richtersl wrote:

I really like it and the mood it generates. You might want to consider cropping some of that dead (no pun intended :eek1) space from the top, though.

Which top? Did you mean at the base of the stone, or the sky?

richtersl

MikeK wrote:

Which top? Did you mean at the base of the stone, or the sky?

roflBase of the stone.