Boxing Day Walk - Figures On A Hilltop

[AndrewMcD]

I've resolved to become more active in the CIC forums in 2014 so here is another image for C&C. Still working on developing the technical skills both in camera and PP to begin to express what I see. I think there's a story here but I'll leave it to the viewer to decide what it may be.
Thanks,
Andrew

[kap55]

Hi Andrew,

The image has a lot of potential, but there's two things that I would try to do differently - eliminate the dark shadowy area in the foreground and eliminate the single person about to walk out of frame. Both of these could be done with a recrop.

Brian

[Kaye Leggett]

Hi - nice conversion. I agree with Brian to crop the shadow area but I would leave in the lone person - my story has a row involved and someone stomping off or two's company, three's a crowd !

[Geoff F]

I would be tempted to 'reposition' the person on the far right. Either slightly closer to the other two or behind them, perhaps somewhere around the one third distance mark.

Basically though, a simple scene which has impact.

[AndrewMcD]

I cropped out the dark area at the bottom as suggested. An example of the image becoming stronger as it is simplified?



The next image was actually taken shortly after the original and the first individual had passed out of the frame. So here we have essentially the same image with only two people without cropping off the third. I did again crop off the dark shadows at the bottom. I think I like the three person image better as my story was close to Kaye's .....there was tension between the two and the one.

[FootLoose]

Andrew I definitely prefer the cropped version with the 3 people. Both images contain a narrative, but I think the first is a more complex one -- or at least it has more elements for the reader to play with to develop a narrative.

[picsfrommt]

Agree with Brian, Greg and Kaye. The cropped picture with all three is much better. Part of me thinks it would have been better with more space between the lone person and the edge. The other part of me thinks that the lack of distance adds to the tension.

Simple picture, nice story.

[Clive Kirby]

So much better without the dark shadows. I think whether you have two or three people depends on how hard you want the viewer to work. Just two is easier to view. With three you not quite sure where you are supposed to look, but on the whole I find the image with three a better image.
Clive

[dabhand]

I'm in the 3 cropped is better camp - with 2 people one's interpretation is limited to - ok there's 2 people out for a walk, might be friends, might be acquaintances, or one may just be passing the other; but with 3 people you have all that plus the added dimension of what is the relationship of the 3rd person - none ? stomping off in a huff ? do the others want to turn back ? - so much more to contemplate and the minimalism of the image creates no other distractions - for me, it's a good piece.

[AndrewMcD]

Thanks to all that have contributed; I have ended up with a stronger image and learned quite a bit in the process......and, for me, that is the point of being here.
Thanks again,
Andrew

[mknittle]

I vote for the second one(last) with three people.