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Sony Forums Challenges | all galleries >> Challenge 42: Plants (hosted by MFC) >> Challenge 42 Eligible Garden > Gone, but... *
by JaimeZX
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11 May 03 JaimeZX

Gone, but... *
by JaimeZX

Hidden corner of Columbus AFB, MS

While on a walk this weekend I stumbled on an old, apparently forgotten cemetary. Tombstones had fallen over and in some cases broken; many graves were completely overgrown and the most recent stone I found said B.1875 D.1910. I thought this scene was particularly poignant.
One other note: my title takes on a two-fold significance; it would appear that while people have forgotten this poor soul,
the brown lichen on the gray marble have not.

Sensitive to the size requirements of this contest, I have placed a larger (205k) version at this address:
Click here

Sony DSC-F707
Original image: f/2.8, 1/125, ISO-100

Several masks used to tweak image softness, contrast, and lighting. full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Sony Forums Challenges19-May-2003 11:24
I like this a lot. Something about the angles here is really compelling. Fremiet
Sony Forums Challenges14-May-2003 02:47
Wow! This image tells a story and leaves it untold at the same time. The green and the gray contrast beautifully to advance the impact of the image. Great composition and DOF. JoeSchmoe
Sony Forums Challenges13-May-2003 04:10
Mark (and everyone) thanks for the comments. I can always improve! I thought about "cloning out" the leaves, because originally I hadn't planned to have the leaf cover the stone at all... but then I realized that the blurry leaf provided just a bit of accidental anonymity to Ether; one more way that nature is ensuring, sadly, that she will not be remembered.
Sony Forums Challenges13-May-2003 03:31
Nice effort and, I like your clever post processing. Your DOF seems to work well for the subject an theme of your image. If it were my image... just for my own personal taste, I would have "cloned out" the leaves that are partially covering the left stone, so the focus of the eye was directed to your in focus subject, the forgotten stone :-) Mark J
Sony Forums Challenges13-May-2003 01:30
Jaime, I too like your DOF effect here...nice focus on the stone. You captured a good sense of "being forgotten". Good idea. MFC
Sony Forums Challenges13-May-2003 01:17
Peggy - my latest AF trick I learned (that I'm pretty sure I employed here although I can't remember for sure) is to let the AF get a good lock and then flip the switch to "manual" for final tweaking. With the large aperature (low f/#) just the headstone(s) stayed in perfect focus. As I said in my tech note though, I copied the background (behind the headstones) into a separate layer, set blending to multiply, then darkened and blurred that layer to emphasize the subject rather than distract from it. I also applied a slight blur to the brown leaves in the immediate foreground, although they were already well out of focus. Overall I'm very pleased with the results. - Jim
Guest 13-May-2003 00:44
good work with the DOF here. I have trouble with autofocus and could probably only acheive this by accident.