Working on a concept

[David Eckels]

I was struck by the brilliant yellow of the canola blossoms against the starkness and absoluteness of the tombstone. Life vs death? Does it carry? BTW, I deliberately put the cross touching the top edge of the frame. I know some do not like "colorized" images, but thought I'd post this to gather some input. Haven't posted in a while and thought it was important to "expose myself" in the spirit of egalitarianism
Best to all,

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Life vs death?...

C'mon, Dave, retirement can't be that bad

...I deliberately put the cross touching the top edge of the frame...

Why? Not saying it is good or bad, but curious about your reasoning. And why out of focus?

[David Eckels]

A way of escape for your eye. Furry focus because death is a process poorly understood metaphysically contrasted with the stark reality of bright beautiful yellow flowers. Fuzzy concept or fuzzy photograph? Here we were in the middle of this vast, incredibly yellow field of flowers in a graveyard! I was looking for a way to juxtapose these things. Fuzzy concept for sure 

No, retirement is not that bad. If the first few weeks are any indication, the rest should be a ball... until I hit the grave, that is

[luxborealis]

Sorry, David, but I'm not sure this is the best we've seen from you. I hate to say it, but it seems this is a fuzzy picture of a fuzzy concept. But that's just me. I'm a more literal person, so sometimes I'm the one who is fuzzy on the concept.

[David Eckels]

No worries, Terry. I would have to agree with you and that's exactly why I posted it. I shot a bunch in this graveyard trying to work different perspectives and in the end, boiled it down to this as the simplest two elements: a gravestone and the canola blossoms. It was that contrast that interested me as I said previously, but that doesn't mean it was successful or even headed in an interesting direction does it? Maybe I need an over the top gothic HDR approach

[John R]

Actually I think this might work if the cross was more out of focus and reduced to a shape, or an outline. Easier said than done, but it works great when done well.

JR

[David Eckels]

More like this John? But then, to get it right in camera, I just should have shot with a wider aperture instead of f/5.6! Now that I think about it, that is probably what I was trying to achieve. A fuzzy concept coming less into focus I think Terry is right, though; it's still a POS. Thanks for the comments and also the muted response(s)!