A Place Of Honor, This Hallowed Ground

[Addies Granddaddy]

Taken at Arlington National Cemetery a couple of weeks ago. I converted this to b & w because of the way the sun was falling, and the colors were just not there. The open area in the lower left kind of bothers me, because I think there should be something to fill the space, but I'll leave it up to you to decide. C & C appreciated.
John

[susaan]

I like the open area,to me,it stands for those who were never able to be laid to rest...
-the unknown soldiers.
Grew up in an English village that lost a huge amount of menfolk in WW2
We always honored those who did not return.

[Addies Granddaddy]

Thanks susaan. Appreciate the comment.
John

[AgingEyes]

I agree with you about the lower left of the photo. And I'm assuming you don't want to "manipulate" a photo of this subject. I'm not fond of the perspective as is though. Shooting closer, from a lower vantage point, with a wide angle may give impact to this photo.

[Addies Granddaddy]

AE, thanks for the critique. It being Arlington, I was not sure if I could venture off the asphalt drives and get closer to the graves. I ran afoul of a security guard at the JFK gravesite about getting down (apparantly only the Kennedy family is allowed to kneel there), so I wanted to stay out of trouble. I was short of time and on the run, as it were. I see what you're saying though. I'm hoping in the future I get an opportunity to go back.
John

[retroactiv]

Yes you can go out into the graves there, my parents took me there when I was just a boy and we walked through the graves. I think there are just certain parts that you can't do it in the Kennedy area where JFK and RFK are, of course the tomb of the unknown solider.

[Addies Granddaddy]

Thanks Chris.

[CLKunst]

John,
This is a good scene but I think the density of the trees, at least as a black and white are too heavy. Was the color version over exposed? I'm thinking a nice punch of bright green space in the corner void wouldn't be such a bad thing. Do you mind showing the original?

[Addies Granddaddy]

Here's the original........untouched.

[CLKunst]

Now I understand. I like the crop you gave it. I played with it a little on my system and making a layered levels adjustment to bring the "exposure" down seems to work best along with a white balance adjustment. With some minor tweaking this could be quite nice. In color the green lit empty area seems to form an arrow leading away from the established graves and into this undug portion as if to say 'Room for More'. I know that's a morose interpretation, just what hit me while I was looking at it. I really like Susan's interpretation of space for those who could not return. I see that too. If you like I'll post the edits I made to your photo.

[Addies Granddaddy]

Please do. I want to see how you improved it. Maybe I'll learn something.

[AgingEyes]

How about this?

[Addies Granddaddy]

Looks better. Thanks AE.

[Greg McCary]

I like the image but it looks a little flat. You need to boost the contrast until you get true whites and blacks. Nice work John.

[CLKunst]

Here John,

I tried to maintain your crop just adjust the levels and white balance.

[Addies Granddaddy]

Thanks Cindy,
You and Ageing Eyes have it pretty good. Whenever I tried it, the shot just looked too green. Guess I was wrong.
John