Is this pic too dark?

[dooda]

I like this pic as I seem to have gotten it roughly where I wanted it to be. I darkened the sky and lightened the subject up until I felt like the noise was interfering. However it doesn't seem to be too popular as no one is clicking on it. The thumbnail seems to look really dark, darker than the larger version.

What do you think, do I need to brighten it up even more?

[Glen]

Dooda, hard balance where you are at. I would still lighten it a bit more, to make the subject a bit more obvious. Not much, just a little bit. That is just my taste, others may differ. Do it to please yourself, and if others like it, great.

[stubbsy]

dooda

On my monitor it's too dark. I can only just see the foreground. One big issue here is monitor calibration. For example you might have your monitor set brighter than I have mine set so it will always appear lighter to you than me.

Paraphrasing some advice I had from Matt K on an image of mine that I've taken to heart is that sometimes you just have to let go of an image and write it off as one that got away.

[sirhc55]

dooda - this is a difficult one to answer as there is noise showing in the darker areas. If this was shot in RAW I would go back to the original and open for the best in the darker areas and if necessary paste in a new sky.

As I said hard to answer - hopefully someone else will have a better solution than mine.

Chris

[yeocsa]

Yeah. It is too dark. Use balanced fill in flash.

regards,

Arthur

[dooda]

Well, I liked the shot as the light sort of lit his face and faded off, and the moment was great as he just stood there staring out, reminded me of something. Of course it was going to be too dark as that window was really bright, so I only wanted to bring the light up a little bit as the darkness added something to the picture. I already darkened the sky some as well.

I don't 'think flash would have worked as it would have glared off of the window and the light would have illuminated the entire body which would have destroyed the effect.

I'm not too concerned if others like it or not, I know that I like it, but if there was a general consencus that it was a little too dark than I would definitly lighten it up a little.

Thanks all for the comments.

[gstark]

Yeah. It is too dark. Use balanced fill in flash.

Good idea, albeit a tad late, I suspect.

I'd be playing with the contrast settings, as well as brightness.

Was this shot in raw? if so, pehaps use curve surgery to inject a different curve under the baseline image?

[flipfrog]

dooda

i too find that the boy is underexposed...
my only advice would be to try fill in flash as well, or adjusting exp compensation next time...take a few pics...

it would be interesting to see the histrogram...

p.s. where was this shot?

[dooda]

If you want to check Exif you can simply click on the "taken with a Nikon D70" link in Flickr. (just checked, you wanted to see the Histogram, nevermind.)

It was taken inside a monorail at disney world.

Doesn't anyone think that a flash would have glared off of the window and ruined the shot? That's what I was thinking atleast. I'll light him up a little bit later maybe if I have the time. Thanks all.

[MattC]

I think the question is whether or not you like it as it is. Fill flash may work, it certainly would have helped with exposure on the young fellas face, which I reckon is about a stop under. Reflections of that large piece of glass might be an issue, but I doubt it because of your angle to the glass.

I quite like the pic as it is. Mood. The real test would be how it looks when printed.

Cheers

Matt

[redline]

if was caught in that situation and fill flash wasn't an option you could have use centre/spot metered the boys skin for a reading, held exp. lock and shot away...true you would blow the bg exp but at least you have the boy in good exp.

[mudder]

G'day,
I think the thing that matters is whether you like the mood in the shot... If you wanted to, you could bring the shadows up and then use something like "Neat Image", "Noise Ninja" or another noise reduction utility if you wish. There doesn't seem to be a lot of fine detail to lose so it's worth a try if you wanted to bring up the shadows more...

Cheers,
Mudder

[Matt. K]

The pic looks fine on my monitor. I think you got the balance just right and I think you've retained the moody feeling of the image. I would put the pic through a noise reduction program like the excellent "Noiseware" which is available free on the internet. Do a search on this forum for the address or on Google.
Thanks for posting.

[Mark T]

On my PC at work (probably cheap-o monitor), the picture was too dark and all I could make out of the shirt was the collar! On the mac at home, I could see the whole shirt.

Have you tried contrast masking (??) to lighten the shirt while darkening the sky? I tried it with the image you posted (see below) but the noise was only accentuated. Perhaps it may work better on the original?

[dooda]

Funny, I'm on a mac and it looks fine on mine as well. Wonder if it's a mac vs PC thing.

Redline, those are good points, thanks.

I was always wondering about noise reduction. I should give it a try as this does have some serious noise in it.

Thanks again for your comments!

[jethro]

this is close to what you would desire
bit of PS highlight shadow adjust and
some gaussian blur in the shadows to
kill the noise. also a tad of selective
colour correction.


http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php ... at=0&pos=0

[dooda]

This is impressive Jethro, thanks.

I sort of liked the darkness creeping in from the edges towards his face though, just not sure how much of the darkness should stay for atmosphere, and how much makes it simply too dark?

I would have to say though that you have impressive skills to bring all that detail and light out without having hellacious noise.

[flipfrog]

the other good free one is "neat image"
i dled it, its great!