Karen Davis  


Honoring Our Heroes by Karen Davis

April 2021 - Honoring Our Heroes

April 2021 - Karen Davis

Original

About the Image(s)

In 2019, our Virginia War Memorial decided to place 12,000 small flags into the hillside beside the museum to honor the Virginia lives lost in battle over the years. When they began to plan HOW to accomplish this, they decided to put the word out to the community to help and several local Boy Scout troops answered the call. The boys were both enthusiastic and dedicated to the solemn nature of the project. I wanted to capture that in this photo.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
9 comments posted




Xiao Cai   Xiao Cai
(Group 46)
My first impression is excellent composition; my second impression is catching the moment and people's expressions very well. A group of people is hard to shoot, but you did it very well. You need more work to do on post-work: the image is underexposed, and the lighting is not so good. You need to increase contrast and color presents.   Posted: 04/10/2021 10:38:08



Xiao Cai   Xiao Cai
(Group 46)
BTW, I just compared your two images. You took off the bottle and some footprints from the original photo. If you use the image as a journal image, I don't know if this is a good idea.   Posted: 04/10/2021 16:21:35



Larry Treadwell   Larry Treadwell
(Groups 36 & 67)
This is a very effective Photojournalistic image. In such an image the story of more important than the composition. This is not to say that the composition can be bad, just that it does not have to be perfect. The cloning work you did (removing the bottle and footprints) is not necessary, they are part of the story. Xiao is correct, that you could improve the image with some better processing work. Still this is a good image. The story is excellent.   Posted: 04/10/2021 16:28:35



Gregory Waldron   Gregory Waldron
Hi Karen,
Welcome to Group 14. I agree with Larry's feedback. I think you capture a good story and wonderful moment in time. The interaction between the 2 scouts in the background and the expression of the scout in the foreground is priceless. I also agree with Xiao that the image was slightly underexposed. I am not sure which postprocessing program you use. I think a quick fix with levels in Photoshop would help. Again, welcome and thanks for submitting a nice image.
Best regards,
Greg   Posted: 04/10/2021 19:00:50



Karen Davis   Karen Davis
Thanks for the welcome and the comments, everyone!

I have never entered a PSA competition. My edits were more for my own PhotoShop practice, than actually preparing this for a competition. (And, I thought the Organization might like to have the image to promote the event this year.)

I will play around some more with contrast and exposure (definitely my overall post processing).

Glad to be part of the group!
Karen

  Posted: 04/11/2021 10:16:53



Stan Bormann   Stan Bormann
(Groups 19 & 64)
Karen, I think this image tells a story that most people are going to like to experience. You have caught a good moment with the expressions and the flags in hand. I don't know what your experience is with post processing, but as far as I'm concerned virtually all images need some and we need some experience to learn what works for our photography. Welcome to PSA and I am glad one of the first things you did was to join a general photography study group.   Posted: 04/12/2021 18:31:52



Syed Shakhawat Kamal   Syed Shakhawat Kamal
Hi Karen, once again welcome to our humble community of learners. I love the image from a photo journalistic point. Xiao and rest of the team is very right, we all need some corrections while presenting an image. It is not a competition my friend. We submit our images to get critiqued to learn from other group members. Everyone of us has our own unique point of view and perception which adds up and we learn.
The image is candid and well captured. The story behind the image is great and you captured an amazing moment. Nice work.
Stay safe and stay blessed my friend.
Cheers.
Kamal.   Posted: 04/13/2021 00:18:58



Quang Phan   Quang Phan
(Group 88)
This is an excellent journal image. It is clear and sharp. it provide the meaningful living actions. Very well done. I would suggest that you don't need to fill content-aware on the flags and hand of the second boy, however removing the 2 posts is right choice. Thanks and cheers   Posted: 04/14/2021 23:55:00



Darcy Johnson   Darcy Johnson
Hi Karen - What a timely and patriotic scene and story. I like the composition, how you simplified and cleaned up the image as well as captured some charming expressions and eye contact. Our colleagues have all shared some great thoughts about possibilities for improvement; I have nothing to add in this regard. Overall - a really nice capture.   Posted: 04/15/2021 13:28:53