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therooComment by SJCarter: * Greetings from the Critique Club *
First of all let me say that I remember this image from the Decisions Challenge vividly. That fact alone should tell you that it certainly evoked an emotional response from me. I scored it a 7. (And regardless of the emotion, isn't that what we're really here to do?)
There were several things that were distractions for me. The focus of the overall image seemed a bit off. The composition and colors are great - don't get me wrong - but the lack of detail in both the subject (child) and the surroundings (trees & leaves) detracted from the overall statement.
I think this met the challenge quite well and in a very unique way... I think what you depicted here was clearly indecision. I could literally hear the various options running through the poor kid's head. It evoked an immediate sense of empathy - as we've all been lost before in one sense or another.
This image did lack the *pizzazz* or *pop* that could really make it speak to the viewer, I think mainly due to the fact that most of the elements are OOF. The colors are good (although I think they could be turned up a bit - along with the contrast). Reducing the backlighting might also bring more detail to the viewer. I'm not very adept at layering, but I think that some "glow" of layered images might also add to the depth of the shot - as long as the initial image is very crisp & clean.
One other thing that I notice is that I'm not sure the shot is actually straight - the horizon seems a hair (one or two pixels) off. I'm constantly amazed at how much of an impact this slight correction can make - you don't think that such a small degree of alteration could make a difference, but in reality it really does.
All in all, a very good idea, extremely well composed, and perfectly meets the challenge (IMHO). I do think you could further improve on it with some additional post-processing work.
Nice job!
Just my 2 cents...
Jimmy
Message edited by author 2005-06-14 16:56:44. 
