Hope

Image Critiques Everything Else Critiques
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Hope
Hope2000×1491 1 MB

Now with straightening -

P4115671

As a nature photographer, faces aren’t something I capture often. This one goes back quite a ways and is a favorite. I was with a friend and we visited a pig farm in central New Hampshire. Long dead, this pig’s image still speaks to me. It wasn’t even a year old yet, but its fate was proscribed - bacon on a plate. And I don’t object to bacon or to raising animals for food, so long as it’s done with compassion and care as was the case here.

Specific Feedback Requested

This was a grab shot that can’t be duplicated, but any thoughts about the processing are ok.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Handheld as I recall. Tough to drag a tripod through a pig farm.

image

Processed in Lr for a crop and the B&W conversion w/some tonal management with brushes - also clarity, texture & sharpening.

@the.wire.smith
1 Like
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Thanks for sharing this! It definitely expresses the captivity and (lack of?) hope that the pig might have felt. Personally I feel that the texture on the bars, wood, and hair are a bit distracting from what, to my mind, is the focus point, namely the eye. I also find my eye being drawn more to the right since it’s much brighter - maybe the eye area could be lightened / given more contrast, and the top bar and post area could be toned down? Just an idea :smiley:

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Kris, it seems like you didn’t read the topic description. “We humans like to find faces (human or animal) in inanimate objects. Show us pictures of natural things that look like faces.” This is not an inanimate object. It is a good look at a pig with a nicely done b&w conversion.

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Bah, sorry Mark. I didn’t. Will re-house.

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Hi Kris. This is a great image for Human and Fauna and I like it a lot. I actually like the fine detail in the pig’s hair. My only real nit is that before cropping, I’d rotate the image counterclockwise a bit to make the vertical gate bar actually vertical in the frame. The black and white conversion works well for my taste.

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Thanks Dennis. It’s been a favorite for a while even considering the pig looks so sad. If pigs can be sad or have expressions.

I can certainly give that a go. I seem to remember the gate didn’t hang true, but it’s an easy fix in the software.

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Hi @Kris_Smith. It probably didn’t hang true, but absent a more visually compelling vertical, my mind wants it to be that way.

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Done and done. You’re right. It feels better in my brain. We humans really do love our right angles.

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The monochrome treatment give this a bit of a portrait feel. It’s a nice reminder how there’s beauty in domesticated farm animals.

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Thanks @Tony_Kuyper - it was my first visit to a pig farm and it was interesting and hasn’t kept me from loving bacon.