Before and After

[theraven]

Decided after hearing peoples opinions over this shot that a crop and B&W conversion may be best.


Do you agree?


Before



German War Graves by ravenphotography2012, on Flickr


After



German War Graves B&W by ravenphotography2012, on Flickr

 

[valdano]

Big difference. I would have never thought it was the same image if you never said it and if that big shaddow wasn't so prominent. Nice edit!

 

[fjrabon]

Somewhat of an improvement. I've always felt like grave shots need to be taken from unusual angles to spark much visual interest. Either get really low, or really far, or really close or if you can really high up. This looks so ordinary that there's pretty much nothing that draws the attention here as anything different from a normal snapshot of somebody visiting their grandparents grave for instance.

 

[theraven]

I tried to get the closer ones with the names and details in the front, then an idea of how many there were by capturing the ones in the background...

 

[fjrabon]

I tried to get the closer ones with the names and details in the front, then an idea of how many there were by capturing the ones in the background...

I get that, but since the shot was taken from normal standing height, with an ordinary focal length, the shot looks just like all the "this is where grandma is buried, right next to grandpa and great uncle bob" snapshots out there. I know there's more going on, but only because you told me (or rather the title did). Not because the image itself communicated that.

The only way to move this from an ordinary snapshot is to move out of the ordinary snapshot frame and/or out of the ordinary snapshot focal lengths.

edit: it's also really soft. was this HDR? looks like a lot of ghosting going on. Or motion blur.

 

[theraven]

I tried to get the closer ones with the names and details in the front, then an idea of how many there were by capturing the ones in the background...

I get that, but since the shot was taken from normal standing height, with an ordinary focal length, the shot looks just like all the "this is where grandma is buried, right next to grandpa and great uncle bob" snapshots out there. I know there's more going on, but only because you told me (or rather the title did). Not because the image itself communicated that.

The only way to move this from an ordinary snapshot is to move out of the ordinary snapshot frame and/or out of the ordinary snapshot focal lengths.

So things like lying down, greater DOF, different angles etc? We're going to go here again so I will bear all of this in mind!

 

[fjrabon]

I tried to get the closer ones with the names and details in the front, then an idea of how many there were by capturing the ones in the background...

I get that, but since the shot was taken from normal standing height, with an ordinary focal length, the shot looks just like all the "this is where grandma is buried, right next to grandpa and great uncle bob" snapshots out there. I know there's more going on, but only because you told me (or rather the title did). Not because the image itself communicated that.

The only way to move this from an ordinary snapshot is to move out of the ordinary snapshot frame and/or out of the ordinary snapshot focal lengths.

So things like lying down, greater DOF, different angles etc? We're going to go here again so I will bear all of this in mind!

Yeah, basically anything that an ordinary person at a graveyard wouldn't make the effort to do. what will specifically work best that day will depend on the background, lighting, etc.