Running A Risk

I don't generally take pictures of people, let alone post them. And, although I made the shot, this image didn't hold any appeal at first. However, with temperatures around 38°F today, I felt the dangers of breaking through the ice were not warranted and wanted to highlight them.

It made me think, what would I do if such a tragedy were to occur. Call for assistance, of course, but would I risk my own life? It's not unheard of, for people to act in the moment. No doubt, the kids or their parents would not consider that.

My original shot showed the person dead centre, occupying 1/8 of the height of the picture. When I decided to use the image, I wanted to show their vulnerability and thought to make them much smaller and place them in the corner, as shown. 

In PS, I duplicated the layer, reduced its scale to a quarter and moved it to top left. This revealed the rest of the original for 3/4 of the frame, but left a hard edge, so I masked that out and with a bit of cloning, blended the two together.

Possibly an exercise in futility, but it made me think for a moment.