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PhotoZAP 9: A Grave Situation

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Average of 21 ratings: 3.8 stars
 

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Our critics praise and pan your pictures

By Adorama Learning Center Editors

November 6, 2009

“For a humor shot, this one is dead-on.”—Jack Howard


© Bob Coker, Havana, IL. Gear: Handheld Fuji S900 camera. Exposure: 1/125 sec at f/7, ISO 200, Program mode.

Photographer’s statement: “I sat in the car with the sun to my right side around the noon hour.  I chose to submit this photo because it is one of those pictures of mine that speaks to you.“

 

Our critics say...

Mason Resnick: The first time I saw this picture I laughed out loud! This image represents a wonderfully morbid sense of humor. However, why did the photographer need to add that black border within the picture? It adds nothing to the image. If anything, I’d try to darken the blown-out areas outside the mirror somewhat. Say good-bye to the unnecessary image editing, and let the picture stand on its own merit.

Jack Howard: I agree with losing the black border. But I think the hot light outside the mirror works as it is to draw your eye into the center of the frame/point of focus. And the perfectly normal bright and sunny exposure in the mirror is where the whole macabre humor comes in. For a humor shot, this one is dead-on. And of course, I can't see this without being reminded of the Far Side cartoon with the giant monster eye in the rearview!

Monica Cipnic: I also appreciate the photographer's macabre humor, and agree with Mason that the photographer should either eliminate the black border within the picture or use the black border as the crop. And I also agree that the blown out areas outside the rearview mirror need to be darkened, it will give the photograph more layers of interest.

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Reader Rating and Comments

21 readers rated this article. Average rating: 3.8 stars
 
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0 of 0 people found this comment helpful
 
The shot is...

...what it is. Call is a snapshot, whatever. The message is 99% of the shot, the rest is just details. I didn't even see the border until I read the critiques. To me, the eye was drawn immediately to the words, then to the gravesites. Isn't that what the photo is about?

by dgrits in South Georgia, USA, Earth on August 6, 2010

0 of 0 people found this comment helpful
 
Curious as to why nobody mentioned this...

Some are commenting on why some are being so nit picky, but I say, why shouldn't they be? This is a critique of a photo someone claims to have simply taken, without claim to having edited it other than the added border and possibly some color correction. Isn't that right? However, to me, this picture has been manipulated and should clearly be indicated as to such in the photographer's description. Why is it that nobody, that I've noticed, has mentioned the odd shadows in this picture?.. The photographer claims that this picture was taken "around the noon hour." However, if this was taken around noon, why then is the foremost gravestone's shadow cast in a way that would indicate that it's much later than 12pm? If I had to guess, I'd say between 3pm and 6pm depending on location and time of year. Other than my complaints, the image could have made a fun postcard, it's a fun image, regardless if it's been manipulated.

by Munky in Glendale, CA on August 6, 2010

0 of 0 people found this comment helpful
 
Unique

Unique photo and message. Clever use of the car mirror.

by Buffalo Mike in Clovis CA on August 4, 2010

0 of 1 people found this comment helpful
 
OK

I do believe you all are nit-picking...I thought this was a funny picture...lay people aren't going to razz about the border or the blown out background. It says what it says!

by scrimmer in Steelville, MO on August 4, 2010

2 of 5 people found this comment helpful
 
ehhh...

1) I have a problem with the fact that the text on the mirror almost exactly matches the text in the bottom left corner. I think this was added in, completely compromising whatever cleverness can be taken from this shot. 2)@BarneyRubble, a master photographer would not (a) be seriously shooting outdoors at noon (b) be using a point and shoot and (c) have the camera set to Program Mode. I really don't want to sound like a nitpicky jerk, but I think we're debating the merits to merely a crummy, typed-on snapshot.

by C-Ward in Lexington, KY on August 4, 2010

0 of 0 people found this comment helpful
 
Good point

I was not thinking globally. Thanks for setting me straight.

by Mr. Analytical in Santa Rosa, CA on November 24, 2009

0 of 0 people found this comment helpful
 
Ireland, UK, Bermuda, Jamaica, NZ, Australia, etc.

Mr. Analytical, have you ever been to a country where the steering wheel is on the right such as those listed above? In these countries, this warning is, in fact, etched on what we would call the "Driver's Side." Even scarier is sitting in this "passenger seat" for the first time, and not having brake pedals or a steering wheel in front of you! . . . But to your point, no, it doesn't matter, really, that this shot was probably flipped rather than shot in a Commonwealth country–it's a humor shot, not journalism, and there's not an ethical yardstick for this genre of photography, in our opinion ;)

by Jack Howard in techtock.adorama.com on November 24, 2009

0 of 1 people found this comment helpful
 
Does it matter..

that the driver's side mirror would never have the warning etched into the glass?

by Mr. Analytical in Santa Rosa, CA on November 24, 2009

0 of 0 people found this comment helpful
 
What's wrong with the border?

I see nothing wrong with border on this shot. It does not distract me at all. In fact, I did not even notice that it was actually inside the edge of the image. I thought it was the window on my browser. Since the image is displayed on a white browser background, I think it works to show where the image stops in the upper left corner. And as far as the blown out vignette, I think that's exactly how it works... as a vignette of sorts.

by shutternutter in Ohio on November 18, 2009

0 of 0 people found this comment helpful
 
TRUE BUT SAD

For an oddly composed photo it is not all that great. But more importantly for a satire about our journey through this place, it is funny. Get over the black border and look at it for what it is.

by CanonShooter in West Michigan on November 17, 2009

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