Boneyard Dancer

The "dancers" stand out very well here Lon.  Their placement does a great job of creating front to back eye movement.  The shrubs in the background add a fine sense of place.

superb placement of the main characters dancing. And fantastic depth here. I want to nitpick but can't. Would look fantastic on a wall...

Hi Lon,

Very nice image. It is interesting to have the foreground darker than the BG. I like the placement of the "dancers" in the frame.  Well done.................................Jim

What a nice eye to get this.
The arrangement is about perfect, maybe a slight step to the right...

Lon,

I've become intrigued by this image. Would you mind me posting a suggested crop here as a comment?

Igor

Igor, by all means - and thank you for asking!  If I were to venture a guess - and put myself in a viewers shoes and suggesting a crop... I would say 15% off the right and a skosh off the bottom and left - just to bring the main skeleton structure in to more prominence?

Curious to see your view Igor.

This is one of the more interesting images I've seen here in this gallery in quite some time. There's a lot of emotion in those shapes. They are both beautiful and meaningful at the same time. I don't relate to these figures as dancers so much. A sense of anguish? I like how the bare tree stands out from the background which appears to be darkened. Only that some of the charred branches are blending with the bg. But I wouldn't lighten the bg one bit though. It's that light vs dark interplay that adds to the struggle. Excellent.

Lon, this is a most intriguing image for me and your b&w processing shows it at its best in my opinion.

Although cropping especially a bit from the left might help to concentrate on the center part, I really like the scattered pattern of the plants.

Peter

The charred skeletons stand out nicely in the comp and your careful placement prevented overlap.  A slight crop would give more emphasis on the dancers ast the expense of the expansive feel.  I could go either way with this.  Stark but emotional image.

Thanks for the comments and observations folks. Much appreciated!

Igor, I like the crop.  Very interesting because it made me realize something.  Along with other comments I just realized my title is describing two different images.  The "boneyard" was meant to describe the field of old, burned and weathered sage brush - a graveyard if you will.  The "dancer" is describing a single bush.  Two different things.  So I now see how even something as simple as an image title could confuse things.

My original thought was a boneyard of sorts and I didn't realize any specific shapes until later.  I do think there is a valid crop here, along with a name change. 

Thanks!

Lon. I recomposed it so that the main subject is 'echoed' repeated by others, each 'echo' a bit weaker than the previous one. The branches from the left side of the frame are part of it. If possible, I would lighten the furthest dead bushes a bit more to continue the idea of repeating skeletons on a dark frame. 

This image is a striking statement.  I must say that Igor's crop works even better for me.

I like this image because it goes beyond what is portrayed by transmitting emotions, Lon. The original version works well for me but I would consider also Igor's crop. An inspiring image. Thank you.

Mattia

Love this, Lon.  We have so many burnt acres here in S. Utah and I have tried many times to make a coherent image of them with little success.  I like the original post, but I can see where Igor was going.  The context of the original conveys more of the  desolate situation these dancers operate in.  Nice.

Cool vision to see this. I would be tempted to use a gradient mask at the top and pull down the mids and lower mids to darken the background much more and provide more showcase for the dancers. I would not crop it, either. My kind of image!!!

Wow, I love the stark graphic nature of this scene, Lon. You definitely made the right call to make this a B&W. Both the original and the crop work for me; I do not think you can go wrong with either version as this is beautifully conceived.

Ed

I love the silvery tones Lon.  While the crop looks good too, I prefer your original.

Lon, I prefer the original comp without the crop.  BW conversion is wonderful for this view, really brings out the starkness of the landscape in this area.  I, too, have a number of images from here, and of course, the red vegetation is what caused me to stop and photograph; I'm going to have to take another look at my images, maybe a BW conversion is best method to show the starkness here.  Well done.

I like both of these versions, Lon. I have passed by this area on the way to South Tufa (?) but never stopped to try to capture the wonderful forms. You have done this very well, and I think B and W was a great choice. A unique and memorable image.

There really are two images; I like both the original and the crop. The original has a very "Africa" feel to me, almost like a cheetah would be lurking in there somewhere.