Picture of friends. C and C please

[Nasir]

Hey guys,

I took a picture of my friends playing the game mastermind. The room was pretty dark so I had to use the wide open 50mm 1.8, but at least I got away with 800 iso instead of 1600. Nevertheless the image was a bit dark and very warm with interior lighting.

So after quite a bit of pp - esp. adjusting curves and WB, this is what I came up with:

Could I please get some C+C? I'm a bit concerned with how dark my friend's bodies are, but after playing around with brightening them up, I feel that the contrast between the relatively bright foreground of the arms and the out-of-focus darker bodies works the best.

Any suggestions on other PP work that I might do or even composition + maybe cropping?

Thanks!

EDIT: I do not know why, but sometimes the image is not showing up here. If that is the case, please use the following url:

http://dyangsc.smugmug.com/photos/345938943_QUyeD-L.jpg

It might be a blank page when you first click on it, but if you highlight the url in the address bar and press enter, it should show up. I don't know why this is happening and I'm sorry for the extra inconvenience.

 

[toofpaste]

All I see is a red x

 

[Nasir]

That's weird...
I just moved it to another gallery.

Try it now?

 

[toofpaste]

lol nothing.


Just hook it up with a link!

 

[Nasir]

lol nothing.


Just hook it up with a link!

So sorry for the trouble.

Heres the link: http://dyangsc.smugmug.com/photos/345938943_QUyeD-L.jpg

If that doesn't work... then i have no idea what's happening...

 

[K_Pugh]

nothing still? ..

 

[Nasir]

Ok for some reason, if i click on that link, it leads me to a blank page. But if I highlight the url in the address bar and press enter, the image shows up.

Can someone please test that out?

Again, i apologize for the inconvenience. I have absolutely no idea why this is happening. I have been using smugmug and posting images for C+C with no problems up to now...

 

[toofpaste]

 

[toofpaste]

Ok...I can see it now.


I really like the skin tones on both people, as far as the hands go. But the faces seem a little underexposed.

 

[K_Pugh]

Yeah i can see it when i highlight the address bar and press enter! what's that about? lol

I don't think it could benefit from a crop, any crop i can see cuts out too much. The lighting looks pretty well adjusted from my end plus the WB looks ok as well.. sorry i can't help lol. I can't really see anywhere that could do with an improvement.. i may be missing something though, i dunno.

 

[Nasir]

I can't really see anywhere that could do with an improvement.. i may be missing something though, i dunno.

Heh, i guess that's not necessarily a bad thing.

And from a technical standpoint, i do agree with Toofpaste. When I try to up the exposure in the back (by upping blacks), it comes out better technically. However, I feel that it takes the viewer's focus away from the hands and the game itself and almost makes it too "busy".

But I'll try to play around with it some more to see if I can up the exposure without changing the focus.

 

[toofpaste]

I think a little brighter looks better.....what ya think?

 

[K_Pugh]

you're right, it does look better a little brighter. I don't think it detracts from the game either.

 

[Nasir]

I think a little brighter looks better.....what ya think?

ooo, that's not bad at all. However, the hand looks a bit blown out on my monitor but it might just be due to the brightness setting on my monitor. I'm assuming that's the case as I don't think you would be posting an edit that is slightly overexposed. Guess that's a sign that I should be calibrating my monitor...

Anyways, how about the composition? Am I on point here? It looks good to me but I don't exactly have the best eye for composition.

 

[K_Pugh]

The hand's not over exposed on my monitor, looks ok.

As far as composition goes, i would have liked to see the guy on the rights eyes at least.. but yeah i reckon you still need to keep it tight.