moon man swings

by Jason Webster
(Redondo Beach, Ca, United States)

This Photo was taken on the beach in Santa Monica, Ca.

The subject is wearing a deep cell marine battery back pack with an inverter attached. It is functional and will give you about as much electricity as a normal outlet.

The thing weighs about a hundred pounds. This is from the series moon man goes to the pier at www.jasonwebsterphotography.net. Please, all criticisms welcome.


It's always nice to see something that is a little "off the wall"!

This is an interesting photo from a series that Jason has shot. It makes you look twice when you first view it, and I think that always makes for something interesting!

So what is good about Jason's Moon Man?

First, there is the interesting subject itself. It's not everyday you see a man with a backpack swinging on rings at the beach!

Then there is the framing of the photo. Using the arches to frame the photo was a good choice, although I wonder if there is a photo on Jason's memory card that zoomed out far enough to include all the arches, rather than cutting off the arches in the foreground?

With that, I'll move on to what strikes me as areas that could be improved . . . back to those arches. Again, I'm wondering if there is a photo somewhere on that memory card taken directly down the line of those arches, with the main bar (that the rings hang from) at the top dead centre in the photo?

If such a shot was taken, I think it would be an improvement. We would then see a line of concentric arches leading out to sea, with the Moon Man swinging. I think such a shot would also be more appropriate for the theme of Moon Man.

I also think a photo taken from a lower vantage point would be a better shot. Imagine the photo taken from right down low, almost touching the sand. The man swinging would then be placed higher in the frame. As it is at the moment, he almost seems to be hanging off of the horizon.

My final comments relate to the post processing of this image. I think there is definitely scope to boost the saturation a little. But what I'm really thinking of in the post processing is going a little wild with it – after all, it is a bit of an off the wall subject.

How about really boosting the saturation? The image will 'posterize' a bit, but I think this will suit the scene. Another thing to try is to really boost the contrast. This will also lead to a bit of a 'posterizing' effect that I think will work well here.

Just my thoughts – great photo though!

Ed.

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