And Baby

[Todd Suttles]

Cjogo's post "to an early grave" encouraged me to put this out for C & C. Seeking feedback on technical (I posted Camera Raw & my processing) as well as any ways to enhance emotional impact. I found this graveyard from the late 1800's at least 7 miles into woods on a dirt road in North Georgia. The little church (40'x20') evidently still has members although I saw no evidence of human habitation on the road until I stumbled upon this. I am hoping the photo can convey the isolation and hardness of life at this place, in those times. As well as the dedication and enduring love / reverence shown by whomever it was that made this marker. The ink color on the stone in the photo is very close to the actual which was an indigo black. I upped the saturation a little, added a little more blue and increased luminance to separate the message from the rock.
Thanks in advance,
-t
PS I felt I could not include the church itself to tell more of the story because its exterior clearly did not match the time period of this event. It was too "new" looking. That's how I knew it was still being used.

[Ed Blagden]

Nice.

Obviously I wasn't there and don't know the overall scene but in general images like this benefit from a little context.  It might have been good to include the church as background to the image... the fact that it has been there for over 100 years is kind of cool, as is the fact that someone is still maintaining this grave... no way would that inscription have lasted this long without someone retouching it from time to time.

PP is OK.  The one thing I might do differently is reduce the blue in the ink inscription to make it look older and more faded.

[stamper]

As Ed stated some context would be an advantage. If the church was in the background then lying on the ground and framing the headstone and the church using a large aperture, focus on the headstone with the church out of focus would be an idea?

[Todd Suttles]

Thanks Ed and Stamper, both good suggestions