June Image: "Innocence"

How I did it -

          The original was shot at the Eden Project, in Cornwall, (www.edenproject.com)  

of a tableau of sculptures representing a primitive dance.  The lad is my 4 year old grandson.  I wanted to contrast the simple innocence of a young boy with the wild, lustful dancers.

          The original was at 2616 x 3488 pixels.  I made a duplicate layer and applied “Fresco” at Brush Size = 1, Brush Detail = 10 and Texture = 1, which gave me the aggression I wanted for the tableau.  Then I made a layer mask and, in it, painted out my grandson, with a moderately soft-edged brush, leaving him in his young innocence and puzzled amazement.

          This was a very simple process, but I didn’t think it needed more.

I resized the finished image to 338 x 450 pixels before placing it on the black background.

COMMENTS:
 

Aavo Koort	A very interesting composition - it tells a story and the fresco filter makes the image stronger and more mysterious.
Carol Weaver	Darkening the statures did help. I think it does a good job of getting your point across.
Skip Larue
Nancy Sams	What an unusual set of primitive dancers!  And, then you have the presence of mind to add innocence with your grandson.  You succeeded very well with your theme.
Nellie Bretherick	Yes, yours was a simple process, but it made a huge difference. One can almost feel your grandson’s bewilderment.
Karen Mason	This is a great shot. Your technique made the scary guys much more intimidating

Member Bio

Norman Piper, AFIAP, DPAGB, BPE*1 - Biography Norman has been an amateur photographer for about 30 years, working, at first, mainly in black and white prints but, for the last 12 years, he has worked exclusively with digital techniques. For some years, he gave a succession of talks and demonstrations, about digital methods, to camera clubs in the north of England and Wales but has retired from this activity now. In 2000, he founded a club. SLIC, exclusively for digital workers, which meets in the South Lancashire area each month. He earned a DPAGB (Distinction of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain) and an AFIAP, both with digital work. He recently joined the PSA, to work for Star ratings, on an equal footing with fellow members worldwide.