Philosophers' Rock

[Tom Barry]

This statue by the renowned sculptor Glenna Goodacre sits at the entrance to Barton Springs, and depicts three of Austin's most influential mid-century writers, Roy Bedichek, J. Frank Dobie, and Walter Prescott Webb. Each afternoon, the three would meet at the rock at the edge of the pool and talk about everything. Goodacre presented them in their latter years, sagging skin, wrinkles and all. Webb did not swim and stood fully clothed beside the rock. I took this shot in 2011 with a Canon EOS 1N and EF 50mm f/1.4 on Kodak 400BW CN Pro film professionally developed and scanned to JPEGs on a CD. All three men's writings were greatly helpful in my education. I guess I was feeling philosophical this rainy afternoon.
Philosophers' Rock by tombarry975, on Flickr

[Manfred M]

Sorry Tom, this image just is not working for me.

The main issue is that you have a bright sky, a busy background and statues that are so dark that they are overwhelmed by the rest of the scene. The human visual system if keyed to bright areas and areas of high contrast, so the viewer's eyes go right past the statue and to the background.

Given the shooting conditions you had that day, it will be very difficult to overcome the sky and background issues. Globally brightening up the statues will blow out the sky.

[Bob44]

When I first noticed this photo, I liked it.

[Tom Barry]

Thanks for the responses. Manfred, I dodged the faces and some other areas to the point I liked them to avoid blowing out the sky. And I worked in a bit of vignetting to help keep the viewer's eye on the subject. Maybe I didn't go far enough. Anyhow, if you have ever used Kodak chromogenic film you will not be surprised that the black-and-white version is not, in my opinion, Kodak's finest product. But I had some, and shot it.

[Geoff F]

I think the dark figures against a light sky can work, Tom. But what bothers me is the top right corner where a bit of heavy looking branch is causing distraction.

There is also a branch 'growing from the middle figure's head' which isn't ideal, although just about acceptable.

[Tom Barry]

I was thinking about replacing the background and may do so. That is about the only angle to shoot that particular view of the statue from.

[Geoff F]

That is a tricky scene whatever you try. Would it be possible to reduce your focus depth and blur out the background issues?

Cropping a little tighter at the top may also help.

[Manfred M]

I was thinking about replacing the background and may do so. That is about the only angle to shoot that particular view of the statue from.

Another approach might be to not shoot the statue as a group, but rather take a different shot of each of the three elements individually.

[Tom Barry]

Yeah, and do a composite, maybe a triptych panel. Interesting idea. The darn thing was not placed with photography in mind. And I replace backgrounds so infrequently that I have to do a Topaz tutorial every time, which is tedious.