Memorial near Pen y Fan

[Barry]

Took this shot earlier this year, it is of the Tommy Jones Memorial marking the spot where a 5 year old boy lost his life after being missing for 29 days back in 1900, no one would have thought that he would had climbed so high in this mountain range from his home down in the valley.
The image was made up with 5 exposures using HDR software, then taken into Silver Efex Pro for the monochrome conversion.




Just done another edit, this time I just used two exposures, one for the sky and the other for the foreground and layered them using masks in CS3, then went into SEP and used the Low Key template and two 'Control Points' on the memorial to bring the detail out and a bit of brightness. Have I gone to dark, it is just that I wanted the memorial to stand out.

[jiro]

What a sad story. The clouds seems to be competing for attention on this shot but still, the drama of the shot is really there and the monument is really a strong element inside the frame. You must be having a good time using SEP, Barry like we all do. ;D

[The Wirefox]

Barry, I am becoming a real fan of your work. I am not a stylised HDR fan but this is HDR photography as it should be done although I suspect in reality you are not stretching the dynamic range any more than the camera is capable of capturing in the first place, regardless of that it has worked so well here.

I sort of see what Jiro is getting at with the sky but the fact that the sky is complementing the texture of the rocks really makes it stand out for me.

Just one niggle...the border...this was made to be viewed on pure black

Oh and I dont have permission to view your image on Flicker

[Barry]

Jiro and Steve, thanks for your comments and yes SEP was one of my better investments, I do try and keep my HDR as realistic as possible (although I have been known to push those sliders a bit too far at times ). The white border was there as I mounted this image onto black mountboard so I felt that that a white border stopped the image from bleeding into the mount. As for Flicka, I only have my sports stuff which I sell set as public, guess I have never really been one to have my work on show.

[Kit]

Barry, I find the clouds a little too strong on this and would like to see the same degree of harsh development in the land, but with softer clouds. Does that make sense? And I am slightly envious of all you dudes who have ponied up for SEP. I need to start filling the piggybank.

[DonS]

Another winning picture from you Barry... Thanx for sharing the picture and the story...

[jeeperman]

I like it, but do think the clouds are a taste strong. Nicely converted.

[manthos]

Another nice one Barry. Wonderful tones, composition and clouds.

[clactonian]

I like it too, but would be interested to see a b&w conversion without HDR.

[chrisc]

Like some others have alluded to, I like it overall, but think the sky really competes with the overall scene and I find myself giving it more attention than the memorial.

I would also like to see the image PP'ed without HDR.

[Barry]

Thank you for all of your comments, I can see what you are saying about the sky so I will have another play with this image and upload another version.

[Barry]

Ok I have just added another edit of this image.

[Kit]

Barry, the second image has, for me, more of an end of day, dark and despairing feel to it than the first one did. The clouds loom in this rather than dominate. It suits the subject better, I feel. Can imaging that wee boy, lost and alone up there and then imagine the person who found him. A very sad story and you have told it well with this image.

[clactonian]

Much prefer your second image Barry which places more emphasis on monument. It looks a little bit dark on my screen but that might just be my setup. Kit sums it all up so well.

[chrisc]

I like it better as well and wouldn't really mind seeing a bit more of a darkening vignette around the clouds.