This doesn't feel like the right medium for this shot to me i.e. children playing. The railings are great, especially the paint chips, and the composition is fine, but the overall picture has an oppressive feel which to me does n't fir the subject.

I'm on my laptop, and it's not immediately apparent that this is toned so I'd say lay it on a bit heavier.

I love the blurry background figures. Just the right level of confusion to leave you wondering what they are doing; and those nice highlights above them. I've tried taking pictures like this before, but never quite get the right result - did you do much manipulation in photoshop?

Yes the railings are a little soft but they frame the background figures well. I'm also on a laptop and can only just make out the toning - not a criticism, as when I tone b/w shots I try to keep it subtle and not too saturated.

peterv: probably because I was there this doesn't have the same feel to me.

chrism: the PS manipulation for this one was reasonably simple. The image was desaturated then I used a fairly strong 'S' curve to increase the contrast. The toning was achieved by using a mild reverse 'S' curve on the blue channel which (if only it wasn't quite so subtle) warms the highlights and cools the shadows - at least that was the plan ;-)

You see these types of "X"s frequently in Scotland!

Has anyone ever seen the movie "Mac and me" where those stupid little aliens whistle and hold their hands up in the air in the shape of a cup? That's how they communicate?.. Anyway.. that's what that alien looking kid in the background reminds me of... If that's a kid standing. Maybe it's someone sitting .. meh. I'm not sure what to think of this yet..

I don't know about this. It's kind of eerie, like the kids are in some prison for wayward children or something. Like a public service announcement against the dangers of doing X,Y or Z. "Don't do it kids, or you could end up here!"

Reading my comments back this morning I found them destructively critical. I apologise.
Also now I'm on a CRT now, and I can see the toning. It lightens the mood of the picture considerably.

I think it's good, aperture is right and then also the sh speed.
The black and white was good becouse with aperture 5.0 there is a nice level of depth.
Nice work as always!
Matteo,Djlight
See my photoblog at djlight.net

lol: I guess this one didn't really come across as I intended, though that said maybe there's some unconscious meaning here – it was cold, the dog had already knocked one of the little ones over and covered her in mud, and the whole trip was a little more stressful than we would have liked – so perhaps the "prison for wayward children" idea isn't too far off the mark ;-)

miklos: there are three figures, one to the left of the cross, and two in the middle – all standing.

peterv: no, it was a reasonable comment but it isn't possible to take into account the way any of my images will look on different setups and monitors. Well, it is – I can check them on my wife's laptop – but my system is calibrated such that I can print them reasonably consistently. One persistent problem is a consequence of the fact that I produce my stuff on a Mac, which has a higher gamma than a PC – this occasionally results in images that appear to be too dark on PC's. I haven't found a reasonable solution to this so have stuck with producing stuff that looks ok to me.

Hi Dave, I know you don't like cropping your images much but you could try croping the sides off..i.e. right down the middle of the X's. It might make for a v.nice shot...In terms of the toning, the blue-ish tone makes for a more 'street' feel. I quite like it. Wouldn't go for any heavier toning.

Thanks for the extra info about the day. Sounds like a rough outing in the park, especially for the baby. Now I feel guilty for my "prison comment." As far as the toning, I think it looks great. I love the photographs you tone this way. Of course, again, I am on a PowerBook and it looks great to me. I know what you mean about the Mac/PC thing though. It's very stressful when I send clients to my website to proof because I never know how it looks to them. In the end, I decided I want it to look nice for me. That's all I can do. I wish they would reconcile the differences between PC and Mac monitors though.

picturegrl: no need to feel guilty – I'd much rather people were honest in their reactions and told me what they think. As for the PC/Mac thing: I've kind of given up worrying about it as if I try and pre-judge what my stuff will look like on other systems (and change it accordingly) chances are it will end up looking bad on all of them.

I guess my question after reading all of this is, why did you choose this subject? Was it because of what you saw? Was it because you wanted to experiment?

What were you trying to achieve when you took it?

~nice use of the DOF field here, but (in all honesty, as I would never comment with anything less) the subject matter is not enough to pull me in and keep me focused...please do not take this as any insult or injury, but a critique from a viewer, and for me I need that 'something' special to keep me in the frame, that quality in every photgraph that remains indelible after you leave it's presence...I have long been a fan of your images, but in this case I am not in the frame...I hope you do not take my words as "harsh" they are not intended to be, nor would I ever seek out to insult another's images, just giving you my honest and direct reaction to the frame...~

This is one of those shots that is growing on me fast. The more I look at it, the more I like it. Toning looks good too. Just enough.

Frank: I think my original intention for this shot was something a bit more fun than I ended up with. Part of the problem is that I really didn't like the colour version. Our three daughters looked fine – blurry splashes of colour between the bars – but the bars themselves just didn't seem to work. So I resorted to black and white instead which seems to have drastically altered the mood.

btezra: I'm beginning to think that I've given the impression that I find critique a problem – I don't, honestly. I'd much rather have a frank and constructive criticism about why an image doesn't work than no discussion at all. And I agree, this one doesn't work all that well. It probably holds my interest a little more easily than yours, as it's my daughters in the shot, but that doesn't make it any better as a photograph. So, as for critique ... lay it on ;-)

Well, i like this much better than the second, I like the compostion, much simpler, love the b & w great JOB !!!

I wonder if a better hyperfocal length that would have brought the child in focus while loosing the rest of the background, i know its a lot to ask for. Or shooting at a greater DOF and using lens blur in PS.

Just food for thought... I loved the picture... Great job.

NOW I think there's room for progress when you share a shot like this, when we understand the goal and more of how it falls short for you.

Sometimes we see something that seems interesting and turns out not to be (I took a shot of a radically different fire escape the other day -- a tubular ladder structure rather than the zig-zag stairways one typically seesn and while its uniquness is special, it's not much of a subject).

I can see why this doesn't achieve your end -- the eyes are really drawn to the bars rather than the action in the back. It's good to share shots like this, I guess, for the learning.

have you ever played around with Duotones in PS? that might yield a better tone.

Maybe it's because I'm working backwards -- first I saw the other one now I'm seeing this one, but I feel like this is the better of the two. The composition is more interesting, and I feel like the blurring of the people walking in the background is very deliberate. To me, the other one is a pretty picture but I was torn, nothing about it grabbed me. The tinting and curves on this one are really nice. The main area I find a bit distracting is the very bright white sky at the top. I wish it were a bit dimmer to help keep the focus shifting back and forth between the medallion on the left-hand X and the people in the center. As it is now, my eye is sort of pulled upward toward... nothing.