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Sony Forums Challenges | all galleries >> Challenge 144: The Concrete Jungle (hosted by Martin Polanic) >> Challenge 144: Concrete Jungle: Exhibition > edit image
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11-APR-2007 Casey Clausen

Ghost of Man*
by Casey Clausen

Como Park Zoo in Saint Paul, Minnesota

I almost deleted this photo before I saw the near perfect profile of one of our ancestors in the middle. I have increased the contrast in this photo to emphasize the profile. In one way, I find the bright colored stripe on the tube in the bottom right to be a distraction, but I believe it also adds to the bizarre experience of seeing an ape in this alien world.

Sony DSLR-A100 ,Minolta 50mm RS
1/15s f/2.0 at 50.0mm iso400 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time11-Apr-2007 14:36:37
MakeSony
ModelDSLR-A100
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length50 mm
Exposure Time1/15 sec
Aperturef/2
ISO Equivalent400
Exposure Bias
White Balance
Metering Modematrix (5)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Martin Polanic 22-May-2007 19:46
Like Mike, I'm undecided about the tube (and the white stripe is a bit glaring), it does distract somewhat but then again it also helps in reinforcing the idea of captivation in a man-made world, as does the concrete wall that confines the ape. In any case, the main thing is that it's thought-provoking and so imo the image succeeds!
Guest 19-May-2007 04:13
Casey, I like your take on the Challenge theme, with both of these. Since you've asked for input, then I'll throw in the observation that, since this is your first dSLR, you might want to look into sharpening as a post-processing routine. While I'm not familiar with "typical" A100 output, this is a known and respected factor in terms of getting the most out of virtually any dSLR. Typical or not, effective sharpening would do a lot for the impact of both this image and the "Paws" one.

Not related to this is the reality that you need to perform additional sharpening after downsampling any image for the Web, since that incurs its own losses. I'm thinking that may not have happened here, which would further explain the softness.

As for the image content, much of this will be very subjective. I take your point about the coloured stripe, but can't make up my mind (without trying it) whether it would look better removed. It does have a certain symbiosis with the angle of the rear shadow... One thing I would be inclined to do, though, is pull back the white circumferential highlight in the pipe. Excellent title, BTW. - Mike
Casey Clausen 18-May-2007 21:37
This and "Lion Paws" are my first submissions to this site, and thus, did not work out quite as I wanted as far as titling. This was taken in Saint Paul, MN. Upon hearing the title of this challenge, I immediately thought of the zoo, and so have posted two such examples. Please critque my photos as I am just starting out with my first SLR and want to improve. Thank you Casey Clausen