Roadside Memorial

Another great shot, Carl. The movement of the school bus emphasizes the stillness of death -- life goes on, but not for this person. The low light and fog add to the somber mood of this fine composition. An emotionally moving photo.

My PS suggestion (in Hue/Saturation) is to lower saturation of the red channel by 25% (for the ribbon) and increase by 25% the yellow channel (for the road line). Very good with full manual to nullify delay.

I tried your suggestion - desat the red looks good for the reasons you mentioned, I increased yellow to 15, but also lightened it to 30. I does compromise the line, but now the bus isn't quite so 'heavy', which was bothering me before, but I hadn't tackled it. If I print this, I could got to the trouble to select it to keep the line strong. We'll see.

 

I don't understand your last sentence.

I was referring to using the A2 on manual focus and exposure to assure quick shutter response to capture the moving bus in precise position.

Well, that would have been the right thing to do, but I simply factored in the delay. The bus could have been a full length earlier or later and the composition still would have worked, I think. (A little bit is cropped off the bottom and left.)

 

Yet another shot that would be very hard to get handheld without an antishake digicam, assuming you want the bus to be blurry. I haven't used my F5 since I bought this.

I took this one to mean there is danger every time we hit the road, including for our children in school buses. I see roadside memorials all the time and they serve as a reminder that life is short and it can happen any time, any place. Very emotional and strong image, Carl.

My initial reaction when I looked up after the shot was, "she'll never get to ride the bus with her school mates again". It really hit me, maybe since my eighteen-year-old daughter is only one year out of high school.

I think the addition of the schoolbus was an important element in this composition. It makes it hit home more than if no vehicle was in the shot. The fact that it's a schoolbus, rather than a single car, also makes you stop and think. My boys are all men now, but I have two grandsons coming up the ranks to worry about, too.

This is a great image, Carl.... Your inclusion of a school bus in its moving blur is an excellent idea! I also understand what Gary wants to see in this image....

Often seen dramatic scenery... Emotional, meaningful.

Hi, Carl,

Philosophical composition, if I may say so...Static of death against dynamic of life. Symbolic.

Good job!

<tears in eyes> This is one of the most moving images I've seen here. Without that bus: no impact. With it (brilliant, BTW): us, moving on, past the sadness, into the misty future, accompanied by our friends & enemies. Technically, I wouldn't change a thing. For me, not an easy image to look upon, you've mixed this drink pretty strong.

If a chance snapshot, very fortunate; if a planned shot, very well thought through. It's a strong image.

I didn't even know it was there . . . . . . just driving down River Road looking for fog shots. The timing just happened to coincide with school getting out.

 

What's curious about this is the Christmas wreath. Wonder how long they'll leave it up? These things change . . . . . . and sometimes disappear alotogether.

Kind of a juxtaposition between a bus full of kids enjoying life, probably singing songs, shooting spit wads, talking about the frivolities that make up their young lives... vs. the end of someone else's. Made much more powerful by the leafeless winter trees & early morning fog (cold, death etc..), and the visible motion of the bus as it heads towards the "light" ( rebirth, the cycle of life, a "journey"etc..)

 

Your pictures always seem to tell such stories! I can only hope to move beyond the "this-is-pretty" reasons I usually shoot & instead, tell a story

yes, works well, agree about reducing red a little. like the composition and use of the slow shutter very much.

Jeff, I agree that the fog and leafless trees helped set the mood. Everything unplanned . . just f8 and be there.

 

Ben, even though I agree with Gary, I left the original alone so his comment would make sense. I've already made those tweaks to the original file.

I like how the road goes downhill then uphill, suggesting life's ups and downs maybe. I also like the bright lightspot on the road that might suggest the same. One possible correction could be to tone down the glare on the guardrail. It's a pivotal part of the image's message. The way that it's wrapped around the cross gives the impression that its the cross' personal defender... and might even suggest "closure" to the incident. Thank you for sharing, Carl.

thanks carl. i find the red adjustment one of the trickier things to catch, particularly when indoors and using a flash. i've learned to adjust separately in the red channel in levels and in curves, which sometimes require i adjust green and blue as well. but knocking down the red can help bring out details -- the bow here is probably a perfect exampel. sure you know all this, i'm just blathering for a moment before getting back to work . . .

Ben, I'm not in the habit of workign with separate color channels, so I know you're ahead of me here. I've found that all your ideas are worth considering.

 

Doug, I think the bright sweeping curve is balanced by the near side road marker, but maybe I was too agressive in adjusting the white point here. (The top of the bus is a bit strong as well.) Thanks for your observations.

oh you charmer!

 

seriously, give it a try, the more control the better. when you are in levels, just go to the pull down box that says rgb and try adjusting each channel. the more "regular" you can get each histogram, the better.

 

if you do it while still in color, you also alter the different channels for conversion to black and white purposes.

 

you can do the same thing in curves, but i find it more straightforward to adjust in levels.

 

and if you do it while in a layer mask, you can adjust just a portion of a photo, like the bow here, in the event you like the coloring elsewhere in the pic.

 

Well, Ben, mostly I was giving myself credit for being so open minded. :-)

 

"but seriously . . " I went back to the original, deleted the saturation layer and accomplished all the above, including bringing out the fog in the upper right using nothing but curves.

carl -- don't know why, but this dialogue reminds me that i just read an interesting book about lincoln ("lincoln at war", i think), which does a good job of showing that lincoln learned war strategy by doing, engaging, struggling, failing, trying again, but always with the will to succeed, and with goals that were certain. i kind of try to do that with photos; i have plenty of casualties, but if i learn something its worthwhile. okay, thanks for the chat -- this is a very fine photo that tells a story with a powerful subtlety or subtle power, you know what i mean!

This is pretty haunting. What an impact! But the longer I look the more I realize this more accurately (at least for me) illustrates how fast life is and how rapidly time passes and how in an instant it can stop for someone. And while those close to that person come to a halt, it is really only for mere moments before we are off and running again. It also shows that no matter how fast people pass in life, there are those who will always remember those who are gone. Great shot Carl. Just when I'm to a point I've just about given up on this soap opera of a web site I see a shot like this that has such an impact on me and I'm pulled right back in. I may have to go back to posting some of my own photos again!

 

OH, and I love the lines you've created. Top notch work as always.

I could use 1000 words, but 1 is enough. Excellent.

I don't think there is another way that this could be photographed that would be more moving.