Piccoli segreti

Dear Jim Adams, your monitor is all ok, the reddish tone effect do exist and thats quite natural here, it brings out the proper environment of the place, some might go and correct thats sort of tone in case it do not help the image but here, as far as I am concerned it do add and help this image.
Why we have the reddish tone?, this is because the walls do have that tone, they take the tone coming from the light falling on them and they transmit their own tone, and it do contaminate the surrounding. Every object when it is exposed to light, it it acts the same ( it takes what tones comes with the light and transmit its own ), this is physics.
Wishing you all of the best my friend Jim.

note: I said upper left with regards to the plants above the arch and obviously, hopefully, meant upper right.

Very attractive view of children deeply engaged in their own world in a surrounding that convey, beauty, aesthetics and history. Old stones and new generations ! I would not change a thing, neither crop nor change the saturation.

The scene is created as a stage with the viewer limited to what the natural frames of the walls and the arch permits us to see, but, what a pleasure ! with a view above the arch towards the hights of the buildings and not least towards the sky. The almost claustrophobic small space of the children is by the total scene introduced in the wider surroundings of the real world. Great job Claudio!

When it comes to the obviously strong saturation, which might be natural because of a sunset (but I don't see any shadows (?), but what ever is the reason, I find it totally in line with the children world on which the scene tells a story. Disneyland and Fisher price colors are colors of children more then of older men that prefer something less disturbing to the eyes.

The choice of effects (the composition and the colors especially) can be criticized for being somewhat old fashion glossy-scraps-like imaging from the beginning of last century - but I like the exercise. The result is here surely attractive.

I think it is worthwhile to make the observation that this POW is singular in the portfolio of Claudio. I would love to see the story behind.

Masterpiece work, and really fine art in every single element it has.

Just to compare the image without the elctricity box and some filling based on Rashed's crop
http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00Y/00Yhxx-357211584.jpg

It's a beautiful and charming photo. The expression and stance of the three young girls is priceless and timeless. I like the point John A. made -- come back 60 or 70 years from now and these three friends may still be conversing. The light is excellent -- as if I'm standing back but the light is bringing me through to the conversation of the young girls. Regarding the light and details above, I think the image greatly benefits by having this space and light -- it's much more open to the world.

Having said that, I do wish the top right corner wasn't so glaringly white and of such a different character relative to the rest of the photo. I want some light coming through the leaves, and perhaps just a hint above the leaf (I think it's a leaf) on the right, but that's where I would end the top of the photograph (easily done by scrolling up on my monitor). That still leaves a lot of light and color at the top on the left side, along with all of the good things this upper portion of the photograph brings to the scene.

My friend Mark, I agree with the Mcb’s cubical ( fuse box ), do not really help this image with its aged stile environment at all, it is possibly easy for some people to bring things to the correct figures and limits, while some others couldn’t do that, possibly they still into the stone age, operating diesel driven computers:)) ( May Joke )

wonderful shoot

Personally I think this composition is very pleasant to look at as it is. Bisected in the upper half of the frame. An area with a beautiful orange light and the arch with the leaves compensate here for a designy element. Thus it is integrated harmoniously with the central part of the image. It also tells about an old Italian architecture of villages. Narrow passages or lanes which are among tall and tightly built houses, as is the case here.
This central part is aesthetically like a niche with the scene of a very interestingly devoted communication between the three girls of different age, that from their look, understand each other and enjoying company of each other too. They appear so open and I think that's a natural gift or ability among kids. I wouldn't go into developing a story how their conversation reflects an eighty year old women talking in the similar corner of the village, or that this girls might experience the same future.
The pervading orange light, and red and orange clothes of the girls is very coherent with their youth and overall niche. The smallest girl, particularly, appears almost holy. There is something holy in her facial expression, or maybe it only reminds me of the similar expressions in Italian sacred paintings.
Kristina

Absolutely beautiful! The lighting & composition are incomparable!

I would clone-out the gray power box on the wall above the two sitting children. It just doesn't "fit" the style/period of the shot.

Thanks for sharing,

Richard

I don't have any problem with the upper part of the image. I feel the bright highlight on the upper right and warm light of the upper left add the volume and depth of the space. Very interesting light bounce back and forth. The only thing I wish it can be better is that I expect more expression from standing girl but I understand it is street shot not posed one. Good eye for the light and overall composition!

Congrats!

Nice color!!

Enlarged and hanging somewhere, I'm afraid the rather unlucky look of the sitting girl will irritate within one week. It's hard to see now, but probably she's even looking at the camera. Expressions, especially here, are the most important.

Love the feel of this photo, the warm glow of reflected sunlight, the arch framing the composition (although Rashed S may have a point -- like his cropped version too!), and its rich tonal range. The only technical problem I see is over-sharpening, which is very pronounced when viewed Large.

Tomek, good catch. I often forget to view large, especially with vertical format photos that already seem large enough. Thanks for pointing me there. Yes, the sharpening is especially noticeable along many of the architectural edges but the sharpening causes its worst damage in the eyes of the girl eyes who is looking right at us. It looks like she has demon eyes.

The tendency to over-sharpen seems rampant. Life has mostly soft edges, building corners are usually not razor sharp, people's eyes are often deeply soft, curves are not only curvy but they have a softness to them. The saturation mechanisms get the most comments, but probably sharpening too extremely compromises as many photos as going too far with the saturation tool. To me, it's the post processing equivalent of blowing highlights when shooting. It takes away detail and subtlety.

At first, I thought I wouldn't want to crop the bit above the arch. Nevertheless, after seeing a cropped version I don't think it's too bad either, although the upper part really adds dimension.

I like the colours in this one, their warmth, and the notion of a stolen moment, while the girls don't even seem to notice the photographer. Priceless!
Nevertheless, the colours are a tad bit too strong, and the image is seriously over-sharpened, which is visible in the legs of the standing girl in particular, while the overall impression is one of having it de-noised quite strongly before (which is what the brick wall tells me, if I'm not mistaken). My verdict: invest some serious time in working on this, and treating it gently. Even if the brick wall's a bit rougher, that's its character.

Some general comment referred to the electric box in the wall, but please don't remove that - it's so much an indicator of living in the Mediterranean, where these are omnipresent!

I haven't been reading POW for a while so it's a bit of a surprise to find such a positive debate ;-) but what a lovely photo. No-one's mentioned the fine balance between the dark framing of a high-contrast scene with the subtle texture of the stonework in the dark arch, so I'll say it's really well done to my novice eye. I like seeing the un-cropped arch myself and I agree that somehow it's a metaphor for the narrative that John A picked out.

I tried a quick "cloning" of the electrical box on the wall. I'd mentioned a few days ago that I thought the image would be improved by removing the gray box. Hope this helps.

Una istantanea  magnifica!! (7)

L'unica cosa che mi sento di aggiungere, ma è del tutto personale, è che avrei abbassato la dominante di colore!

Nice snapshot with school - like framing.

I somewhat agree with the suggestion of a tighter crop to bring attention to the girls - although I enjoy the interesting architectural setting of the original. I don't however agree with photoshopping out the electrical box. The anachronism of the box, is part of what makes the picture modern and adds a richness and another dimension to the photo's reading -- otherwise it becomes an exercise in schmaltz -- an all too common a tendency in an attempt to "improve" a photo.

Beautiful light and colors. My first thought was to crop the top and side similar to Rashed's version. The sky distracted from the girls,

and the left and right borders were slightly out of balance.

Hi! Awesome photo and amazing subject! So I tried to correct both the electric box and the over exposed top right corner. I think the arch should't be cropped, as it contributes beautifully to an architectural context. Also, I slightly desaturated the colors, as mentioned before, it increases the realism of the photo, yet maintaining a mediterranean feel.
Best regards,
Marco

Nice job, Marco!
(while you were at it though, you could have gotten rid of the electrical cable too ;)