Very Special Shadowbox

[NiteOwl]

Hi to everyone....I apologize for being so absent at this site, but I do intend to make that up and start spending more time here. I love to critique and pick apart work,...and likewise I love having my work critiqued and picked apart. It seems to be the best way of learning I have found yet!

I went to a horrible wedding shoot, which was done outside at a farm. The weather was beautiful, unless of course you are a photographer! They insisted on using an old fence with decorated wagon wheels as the backdrop. They wanted both their horses included as well. It was nearly 90 degrees, with not one cloud to be seen, and they insisted we do their pictures at 1pm. Talk about a night mare!!!! There were three little children who were the ring bearers and the flower girl. Two brothers and a sister, aged 3,6, and 8. Because they were dressed up so cute, I decided to salvage something from this job, and went to work on a 'personalized photographic montage'. [We just made that name up, but it seems to fit.]

Please by all means, pick it to pieces!!! I have added the link as it is quite large, and posting it here would be pointless. Even this link though is a small version of the original, but hey, server space is expensive, and I try to spare those looking from long downloads if they have small modems.

Everything in this piece except the sky pieces, the shadowbox itself, and the sign, came from the pictures at the western wedding shoot. I made the sign from scratch, pulled the sky from another photo, [as there was NO clouds that day to be seen!] and used a shadowbox I had painted a few years ago as a craft project for the base.

Can't wait to hear to hear from some of you, and by the way,...I caught the shadow on the boys together being opposite, and as soon as I can find my original mix I will fix it. Just a heads up. The kids, the milk cans, pails, bales of hay, the laterns and even the grass are all from the original shoot. Hope you are all honest and honestly, I hope you all like it.

~Niteowl

Link to image: http://www.pbase.com/image/18338395

[Toad]

I honestly don't feel very qualified to comment on the shadowbox photo - so please excuse the brevity of my critique. I browsed your galleries at some length, and my favorites were "Inner Beauty", "High Flying" and the "Lewis" gallery - just so you know where I am coming from. I am typically attracted to darker - more edgy stuff.

The Green Kids seems very technically proficient - not that I am very critical of technical issues if I like the photo. It looks very professional in both concept and delivery.

It is a really interesting technique, and looks like it would be a big hit commercially. I would really have liked to have something like this done with my son as a child. This is a really good idea, and I am guessing that you can make a pretty good buck with it if you are so inclined. Nice to see an original concept with earning potential.

Best
Toad

[NiteOwl]

Thanks for your comments Toad,...I am still trying to put my finger on what was bothering me with your staircase. I too am not qualified at critiques and just try to do my best. I am glad you checked out some of my work, I am still a bit scattered,...being at this now for about 8 months, I still havent found my direction yet. The photo montages seem to just keep coming out! I too really liked Inner Beauty, but can't really say how I got there, these things just happen for me. I start with a photo and then, voila, something happens and it is different. Sometimes good, sometimes not.

Thank you again for you time and attention, I will be getting back to your staircase real soon.

Take care,
~Niteowl

[Kevin Connery]

Check your shadows; that may be what's not working.

In the shadowbox--cool use of graphics, by the way--the created "dropshadows" are saying the light is in front and below the subject; they're being cast upwards onto the background. That's now where the light ON the subject is coming from, and that usually creates a 'huh' in the back of most viewer's minds.

On the kids leaning over the edge, their hands would be touching the frame, and the shadows would be very sharp and probably very small. That's another glitch.

Shadows are a great way to 'ground' your picture elements, but if they're inconsistent, they can detract just as much--and most viewers won't be able to say why the image isn't working.