The garden wall

[Richard]

*************EDIT******************
Original Image
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7070/6951303133_2cf4d50e95_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rich-image/6951303133/)

Re-edited Image
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7070/6951303133_e7a1241222_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rich-image/6951303133/)
*************EDIT******************
This is a 3 Shot HDR, there is a strange lens flare over Andrews head and shoulder that I didn't notice till I started processing...

Do you think it's worth re-editing to remove the flare and strange blending in Andrews clothes caused by the HDR process.

[JAS_Photo]

Wow! That's a cool garden! Nothing like that here in Alberta, that's for sure. The lens flare is a bit odd. If it was me I would leave it because my photoshop skills suck, but for someone skilled (such as yourself) I would consider removing it.

[vyeko]

I think that is worth to go to the perfection.Not only flare but blown out cloud on top too. Image which I like it a lot is so good that is worth extra work.Amazing light.Bravo!!!

[Marko]

Although I find the image strong compositionally, for me the 2 parts of the image don't blend as well as they could.
The light and background parts of the image are very captivating. The tree at the left and the line of the wall make for a fabulous "triangle" that leads to your boy and this makes the composition quite interesting.
However, when we "get" to your boy, it looks as though he is simply looking into the dirt. Given the luminous almost fairytale quality of the overall image, conceptually I think the image would have been much stronger as a whole, had the boy been "looking into the light" or looking at the luminous parts of the image. Hope that makes sense and it's just my 2 cents....

[Andrew]

Looking into Alice's Wonderland?? Get rid of the flare and it would be a neat one to frame for his wall.

JAS, check out the zoo and devonian gardens for certain. Also the Calgary Parks website, Calgary Horticultural website... I'm sure you'll find lots tucked away in places you haven't seen yet. Lower elevations like Red Deer and Edmonton should have even more. Spring is coming so the foothills and mountain meadows are about to explode.

[Mad Aussie]

I'd repair the lens flare on the boys cheek and fix that pink cloud ... but it's still an awesome image I my opinion. I'll nominate it anyway!

[Richard]

Thanks for all the feed back, I've made a few mods and edited the first post in this thread.

I really like your thinking Marko, and agree. I couldn't find a suitable image to use as a head donor though. :)

Thanks for the nomination MA.

[AcadieLibre]

I must have completely missed this one, I agree with all those who say it has a fairytale/surreal quality to it and it does not have an HDR feel to it all for me and it works very well. The boy I like but like Marko I think it would have been bang on if the boy was looking at the light or appeared to be looking at something opposed to the feel he is gazing at some indeterminate object but the overall shot is very good and it would be easy to overlook that.

[Mad Aussie]

The boy looking over the wall doesn't bother me at all. If he was looking at the light, that would cool, but I'd know he was looking at the light. As is though, I'm left wondering what it might be that captured his attention. There's some mystery there.

[Runmonty]

Wonderful image - The edit does certainly improve it

[JAS_Photo]

Yep, the re-edit is cool. And there be dragons down there! :)

[Hillbillygirl]

Beautiful surreal image Richard. Makes me wonder, "what lies beneath?", be it good, or evil?