Priceless * 4th Place by Canon DSLR Challenge

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4th Place

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24-JUL-2005	Olaf.dk

Priceless *
4th Place

I got this idea early on, but it took me a lot of soul-searching to
muster up the courage to actually carry it through.

This image is meant to be thought provoking and a stark com-
mentary on some dark sides of our modern societies. I see it as
putting light on some shady businesses, which can only thrive
in the dark. As such, I see it as doing something positive.

In their constant battle, darkness must always yield to the light!

*

Canon EOS 20D ,Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
1/400s, f/2.0 @ iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto

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Please do not delete, update, or otherwise edit others' entries
* Submitter retains all copyrights *

Guest		01-Feb-2008 22:34
Looking through old challenges, are we? Lonnit, I agree with you. I was really battling with myself whether to submit this or not. I won't claim to be "an Artist", but some say that the most noble cause of art, is to provoke. Make the audience feel and/or think. If that's what this has achieved - I guess you are right - for once I succeeded at being an artist. It was uncomfortable...

Canon DSLR Challenge		01-Feb-2008 18:47
A brilliant image, but utterly disturbing - if hitler had the technology he certainly would have used it. It's just too horrible... as an artist, you did an incredible job, but what a sickening thought. ~ Lonnit

Guest		26-Jul-2005 19:25
Everyone: Thanks for the feed-back - very much appreciated! I have made some minor changes and updated the image. iso3200: Your words mean a lot to me! You were so right about the bar-code looking too added. I have given it another go: made it slightly smaller, rotated it a teensy bit, and done some extra, and very subtle, perspective on it. Also, as the body is slightly out of focus I had blurred the bar-code to suit, but when I resized with 'bicubic sharper' it had sharpened up considerably, which added to the unrealistic feel of it. In this new version, I blurred the bar-code layer again _after_ the downsampling. Tim: Radiohead didn't mean a thing to me, so I googled it and found out it was a band... Traveller: I trust your judgement on the title. Besides I feel a lot more comfortable NOT having the ? in the title, so it's gone! Michael: I'd heard of Bertold Brecht, I think I've even seen one of his plays, but you made me google him to learn more. I am particularly glad for your clear vision about the necessity of the full face to contrast with the anonymity of the bar-code. I couldn't agree more - thanks for reminding me! Techo: Never saw or heard about that movie... Mikel: You were right about the effects of cropping, and Michael gave me the reason why not to crop.

iso3200		26-Jul-2005 13:45
Love this one. Even without the added graphic, this is good moody picture. I like the overall framing and idea behind it. Purely (*), the graphic still looks a little added rather than natural if you get my meaning, though you'll note I'm not giving you any tips to make it better ;)

Timothy O'Connor		26-Jul-2005 12:13
very radiohead...

Canon DSLR Challenge		26-Jul-2005 08:35
Okay, I feel properly shamed by Mr. Puff, (smile). Do leave this uncropped, but could we change the title to get rid of the question mark? "Priceless," should be sufficent...the "?" is guilding the lily to me. One person's opinion, Traveller

Guest		26-Jul-2005 05:38
Olaf, this is a most remarkable and stunning image. What Bertold Bretch accomplished with words, you've accomplished in an image. The placement of the barcode over the heart is stunning. It would be a grave error to crop the image below the eyes, IMHO...we need the full humanity of the child (not anonymity) juxtaposed with the barcode. This is brilliant and moving work for me. -Michael

Canon DSLR Challenge		26-Jul-2005 05:31
If I were to crop it again, then right under the chin...and then you don't even know the gender of the child. I was using that magic croping tool pointed out by Mikel....lol Best, Traveller

Canon DSLR Challenge		26-Jul-2005 00:15
A moving photo indeed. Though this reminds me more of the movie A.I. than what's mentioned in the photo's description. -Techo :)

Mikel Featherston		25-Jul-2005 21:25
Also, the more you remove, the more abstract it becomes. But I guess that goes without saying, doesn't it? ;)

Mikel Featherston		25-Jul-2005 21:23
Cropping off right below the eyes seems to make it a bit more disturbing. While playing witht he magical croppnig tool (read: resizing my browser window), I also checked to see what it might look ling witht he left side cropped enough to bring the barcode roughly to the center of the image. Don't know if it is an improvement or not. Oh, I should say: It's a strong image, cropped or not. Cropping right under the eyes de-personalizes the image some, making him appear to be no more than just a number.

Guest		25-Jul-2005 20:39
Shoot! I am getting uncertain about the crop again. Am I crazy for even considering cropping off the top, from just under the eyes? The resulting aspect ratio would be a square from the lower edge and up. Any opinions on that?

Guest		25-Jul-2005 20:26
Thank you Traveller! This photo is shot at iso100 and is just as smooth as any iso100-shots out of a 20D - pretty smooth that is. What you perceive as "grain" is really skin texture and skin color variations, which have been brought out and boosted in the high contrast post-processing. I liked the effect - felt that it was well suited to the mood of the image.

Canon DSLR Challenge		25-Jul-2005 08:31
Well, Olaf, I really like this...however, and but, there is always that but...Why is there so much grain in this image? It appears to have been shot at a very high iso...when it probably wasn't necessary. That's what I am curious about, or, did the post-processing introduce the grain? Best Wishes, Traveller

Guest		25-Jul-2005 04:01
Grant, thank you! Kelly, I did think about the position of the bar-code. I felt the message I was trying to convey was best served with an anonymous child. I even considered cropping just above the chin or right below the eyes, but when I tried it I felt the downward look of the child was important. Anyway, I was very quick to rule out the forehead, as it just didn't fit my original concept. Everyone, please consider the asterisk in the caption-field as being in the title. I only took it away from the title, as it was too disturbing graphically.

Canon DSLR Challenge		25-Jul-2005 02:24
Why not his forehead? - Kelly

Guest		25-Jul-2005 02:05
Is this the new US National ID Card? Nice image Olaf.

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