Ghost?!?

[earldean2020]

HI everyone! Need your help in improving this photo I took during All Saint's Day here in the Philippines. I'm still practicing my PP skills in B&W. Comments/suggestions are most welcome. Thanks in advance!

[OneArmedScissor125]

I really like this photo. The foreground is interesting and captures my attention. After that my eye travels to the two buildings and then the boy in the background. The photo doesn't seem level to me though. It looks like the building is leaning just a little to the right. It might just be me. The building on the left also seems to take up too much space to me. The only other thing I might suggest is try a closer shot, to get more details of the boy, and make him the central subject. Overall I think this is a nice photo and I like it as black and white.

[earldean2020]

yeah, left side takes too much space. it's not leveled too. this shot was a very quick one. that kid was hopping all over the place. will another PP do for this? like cropping to balance both ends and make it leveled?

[xxpinballxx]

its going to be tough to level this one out....if you level the fence rail it will tip the boy to the left and vice versa. I think the only thing lacking is some type of dramatic sky but other than that i like it and if you want the title to really fit bring the oapcity of the boy down by making a selection and lowering opacity.

[earldean2020]

thanks for the comment.
does it make a photo "bad" if its not leveled but the composition is good?

[wulf]

Normally, I am a proponent of levelling photos. It often makes a world of difference between "sloppy" and "smart".

However, if the purpose of this one is to convey the idea of a sudden glance that reveals a possible ghostly child in an unexpected place (going by the title) then I can see the fact that the lines are slightly skew fitting well.

I am not so sure the blown-out sky helps though; I think you could crop that out while still retaining the sense of an abandoned alley. I would keep the railing at the bottom though, without which you lose the idea of boundary between you and him.

If you want to do a bit more processing you could do some work to make the boy slightly translucent - understated but just enough that a second glance draws the viewer back in and makes them play closer attention.

Wulf

[FotoMike]

the first thing i noticed was the photo was not level, but it was so slight i though maybe it was just me, but after reading the other posts i see it isnt. having said this, the photo is a very good one compositionally. If this was originally a color digital shot (which im assuming it is) im wondering if maybe you could color in the boys shirt or entire outfit and make that stand out, which may detract a little from it not being completely level? seems like a good candidate for a photo like that. if you arent sure how to do this, take a look at this thread it has a link to a site that will show you are tutorial.
Blue Eyes

[Robin Sarac]

The composition is great! The blown out sky and the tilt are noticable, but it's still a great photo. It's one of my favourites I've seen here in a while. Thanks!

[earldean2020]

@FotoMike, Wulf, and xxpinballxx - thanks for the suggestions. ill try to make the boy semi translucent and/or make him standout by leaving his color. good way for me to practice my photoshop skills.

@ Robin Sarac - thanks for the wonderful comment!

[wulf]

The way I would do it would be to use a layer mask to create a cut out of the boy and underneath work on a copy of the original picture to clone him out. Now you have two separate elements you can blend together (and, because it will probably be best to keep the effect quite subtle, it doesn't matter if your cloning to create a "boyless" alley is not quite perfect because it will be largely obscured anyway).

Wulf