Just not right

beatniktwist · May 21, 2013

I found a dead bird on my porch the other day and thought oh I can use this. I like where I was going with this idea but it seems like the execution just isn't there. Anyone feel like giving me some pointers. What could I have done differently?

baturn · May 21, 2013

Cover for a Stephen King novel??

sarah_19_nz · May 21, 2013

This just freaks me out! Not my cuppa tea sorry.

beatniktwist · May 25, 2013

If this freaks you out then you might as well avoid me because I'm a weirdo. And I like dark stuff. Not looking to change my style to please anyone. I'm just looking to get better at it. You Don't like it. I don't care.

TimothyJinx · May 25, 2013

beatniktwist said:
If this freaks you out then you might as well avoid me because I'm a weirdo. And I like dark stuff. Not looking to change my style to please anyone. I'm just looking to get better at it. You Don't like it. I don't care.

beatnik, it's ok to be weird and certainly no one here would want you to change your style for them. But there is value in reading other opinions about your work. Sarah didn't say it was bad - it's just not her thing. No need to be rude. Besides, you are a self-proclaimed weirdo who creates dark works - you should be flattered that your image freaked her out!

ktan7 · May 25, 2013

This picture is very fine art-like. The post-processing edit works well with this photo.

o hey tyler · May 25, 2013

What lawn treatment do you use to get purple grass?

Heitz · May 25, 2013

I get what you're trying to do. I kind of like it. Very ethereal. If I had to make a specific criticism, I think I might have posed the model differently...I'm not exactly sure HOW, but I'm not a fan of the crossed legs oriented as they are.

DarkShadow · May 25, 2013

I like Dark,freaky,scary good stuff.

Whiskeyjack · May 25, 2013

I like it. I think you hurt it by not giving her enough head/hair room. Another issue is that it is not level. I can't decide if I'd like it if she was completely desaturated or if I like that hint of color you've left.

Your stuff isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, someone saying they don't like it isn't an excuse to give them the proverbial middle finger

Accept and move on.

Overread · May 25, 2013

If you like dark themes check out the Darkside gallery Dark Side Gallery

As for this shot its hard to say what should be or could be done - its the kind of composition that you've got to sit down and clearly think what your own aims and intents were and then write them out and see if your shot meets with that aim from the views and opinions of those who view it.

A few thoughts though:

1) It feels very tightly framed, esp around the hair and head, maybe a slightly less strong crop would help just give a natural boarder to the shot. The other option is to move in and crop more heavily so that cutting off the wild hair is more intentional - although considering the pose, shot and overall display I don't think you can do this for this specific photo.

2) You need to go back and work on your layermasking better, you've some big gaps such as around the hand where the purple effect added to the background isn't showing over all the grass which gives a halo effect. This can be distracting so go back and work over the basics of the photo to a proper finish.

3) It seems like you've added a blur to the hair that is flowing in the air; however it looks like you've gone in and applied a very strong blur right ontop of the photo. What you might find works well is to adjust the power of the blur along the edges (where the hair flows back into sharp clarity) so that you get a smoother progression into the blur (you can do this easily if you know how to work with layermasks and simply adjust the opacity of the brush.

Granddad · May 25, 2013

I'm afraid you have what looks like multiple poorly cut out photos of a dead bird scattered about on a photo of a girl with hair cloned to look like it's blowing in the wind. Looking at the image at full size it's very obvious that you need to practice cutting out with the lasso tool, you have jagged edges on the bird (these can only be avoided by time consuming and painstaking work) and a halo where you have had the feather setting too high. The position of the bird on the grass doesn't look natural, it would only look really natural and like a dead bird on the grass if it had actually been placed on the grass and photographed it there. Using the same cut out image scattered about to look like birds flying hasn't worked, either. It might have worked better if you'd repositioned the dead bird into a flight mode, taken another photo and tried using that.

As for the girl's hair flying in the wind, well, nice idea but again it's a lot harder to make that work and look credible than it sounds. It would have been MUCH easier and more effective to borrow a big fan and really have her hair blowing. I've been cutting, pasting and cloning for something like 13 years - I know that with all my experience I couldn't get the effect you are trying for and make it look realistic.

The girl and the bird have nothing tying them together, her hand should be in a position like she's reaching out to stroke the bird or something similar or she needs to be looking at the place where it is. As I see it she appears to be looking at her hand. As an alternative she could be looking at the birds flying around. There needs to be some connection to make this work.

I think I see what you are trying to do and I think it would indeed look weird and dark if you pulled it off. Something like this isn't going to come together by taking a couple of random photos, spending half an hour in Photoshop and adding some colouring effects. You need to plan your photo in advance and work towards the image in your head... if it still doesn't work you'll have gained experience (and maybe some skills) for your next attempt!

Good luck!

beatniktwist · May 28, 2013

Wow thanks that was all really helpful, I'm gonna work my butt off.

beatniktwist · May 28, 2013

TimothyJinx said:
beatniktwist said:

If this freaks you out then you might as well avoid me because I'm a weirdo. And I like dark stuff. Not looking to change my style to please anyone. I'm just looking to get better at it. You Don't like it. I don't care.

Click to expand...

beatnik, it's ok to be weird and certainly no one here would want you to change your style for them. But there is value in reading other opinions about your work. Sarah didn't say it was bad - it's just not her thing. No need to be rude. Besides, you are a self-proclaimed weirdo who creates dark works - you should be flattered that your image freaked her out!