Gravestone Private Edward Jackson

[mwfanelli]

Gravestone in back of Rodgers Tavern, Perryville, Maryland. This area was a favorite hangout of George Washington, John Rodgers (founder of the Navy), and other revolutionary war folks.

Canon S400.

[readingr]

I like how they used an old mill stone as a gravestone - Neat idea.

I like the concept with the stone and the flag.

However, the crop of the stone seems awkward to me and it might be better if the whole stone had been captured filling the frame.

It also looks subdued and lacks punch which doesn't bring out the texture of the stone properly. It looks like it was a grey day, perhaps a reshoot in good light might help.


Roger

[HowLowCanYaGo]

Decent concept. But it seems flat an boring. Like readingr said maybe cropping so the stone is all you see could help. The flag in the center is a nice touch, though.

[mwfanelli]

The flag was already there when I arrived. It was a nice touch so I left it. The story behind it must be interesting as it was not there last week when I first spotted the grave site.

The tight crop was something I tried. I'm not sure about it myself. But without the crop, it looks worse. Or maybe, I need to look at the originals again. I focused tight so I may have to go back and try again with a wider angle.

Saturation and contrast is pretty high on my calibrated screen in Picture Windows Pro. Looking at it in IE 7, it does indeed lose "pop" (lack of color profile use?). It's better in Opera and Firefox. That's one thing that has always bothered me about online photos: you never know what they are going to look like from computer to computer or even software app to app on the same computer.

[GB1]

Hmm. Ok.. Decent subject matter. The fellow's name has something to do with that (I wonder if any relation to ol Stonewall?) The flag is a nice addition, though rather small. The text is legable. For improvements, I would have used a deeper DOF... seems like it's fading out on the sides. It really doesnt seem very sharp to me.. the text is almost unreadable. Maybe th resizing did that? The shot's a tad dark, and the angle of the shot seems to be leaning to one side, so I almost feel like the camera was tipping over. The cutting off of the sides of the stone are OK to me, but perfect symmetry might have made it even better.

In all, a curious shot. Use of a tripod probably would have helped correct some of the criticisms I mentioned, but I know those things are a pain (and conspicuous) to carry around...

GB

ps - I need to get out to Perryville one of these days. My parents still live in Riverdale (New Carrollton area).

[mwfanelli]

Hmm. Ok.. Decent subject matter. The fellow's name has something to do with that (I wonder if any relation to ol Stonewall?) The flag is a nice addition, though rather small. The text is legable. For improvements, I would have used a deeper DOF... seems like it's fading out on the sides. It really doesnt seem very sharp to me.. the text is almost unreadable. Maybe th resizing did that? The shot's a tad dark, and the angle of the shot seems to be leaning to one side, so I almost feel like the camera was tipping over. The cutting off of the sides of the stone are OK to me, but perfect symmetry might have made it even better.

In all, a curious shot. Use of a tripod probably would have helped correct some of the criticisms I mentioned, but I know those things are a pain (and conspicuous) to carry around...

GB

ps - I need to get out to Perryville one of these days. My parents still live in Riverdale (New Carrollton area).

Thanks for the comments. The stone is old so the name is not as sharp as it could be. I did try brightening up the image but the stone itself is darker and worn and I didn't want to veer too much from what is actually there.

I am still not happy with the tight crop. I tried making it more symetrical but that didn't help my ambivalence. I may try a few different things.

Perryville is a long way from New Carrollton. It is located up at the top of the bay where the Susquehanna River enters. Not much exists in Perryville, just a bunch of "historical markers" mostly indicating what used to be rather than what still is.

[Greg McCary]

I think that it is pretty good. Seems like you might have been shooting slightly from the right and not dead on. That makes the lettering look as though it is leaning some. But I like the flag and the crop. It does seem to have a story to it. like the picture was taken just afer some sort of tribute or ceremony. Well done.
Greg