my freind at the bottom of some steps

[siv]

not recent, was taken more than a year ago, but still on of my favorites that i've done, it actually won a gold medal at the nation scholastic art awards, though no body's really ever critiqued it, so i'd like to hear your opinions.

 

[areuwhatudream]

I like how the angles all converge and draw your eye to the subject... at first the person seems insignificant to the picture, but then everything about the picture leads you to him... interesting

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Nice pic, I'd underexpose it by a stop or two though...

 

[JonMikal]

Nice pic, I'd underexpose it by a stop or two though...

agreed - you won't loose significant detail. good creativity!

 

[siv]

well, i upped the contrast in ps, do you mean i should darken it some?

EDIT: well i darkened it some, do you guys like it more like this?

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Photoshop won't help you now. You've blown out highlights and there's no way to bring them back.


Where are those yakkers that claim you can fix digital in photoshop? Huh? huh?

 

[chroix]

pretty cool pic. i like the first version except the lights are so blown out.. the second one loses some of the colors that really made the pic special in my opinion..mostly th foreground rail starts to blend with the shadows on the wall..

 

[JonMikal]

Photoshop won't help you now. You've blown out highlights and there's no way to bring them back.


Where are those yakkers that claim you can fix digital in photoshop? Huh? huh?

Doc's right unless you have mastered PS. Now if you shoot in RAW and have the supporting software that accompanied your camera you'd be set. As for me, I shoot RAW and use Nikon Capture to help edit. Check you camera manual for image settings. If you can shoot in RAW and have the space on your card for it, do so. I only switch to jpeg or tif when detail or manipulation is not required. I hope this makes sense.

 

[siv]

i wish i could shoot raw.....

how would i have taken it an not had the lights blow out? that's possible?

 

[Tuna]

how would i have taken it an not had the lights blow out? that's possible?

Not always, especially if the scene has extremes in light/reflection. But one thing to keep in mind when shooting digital is to try and expose more for the highlights (similar to slides) and then it's easier to recover any exposure flaws later in photo-manipulation software.

Tuna

 

[siv]

expose more? as in just over exposure? and then darken the areas around the lights? is that what you mean?

 

[Tuna]

expose more? as in just over exposure? and then darken the areas around the lights? is that what you mean?

When you are shooting digital and are taking a light reading of the scene (using your meter - in-camera or handheld) to set your exposure (shutter, f-stop), take the reading from the highlight areas (NOT the light bulb itself but an area that would reflect a little more light than the average light in the scene). This would actually cause you to slightly under-expose the scene and generally avoid the blown-out areas. You can always recover most shadow detail later in photo-manipulation software.

Usually, you would do this with slides (positive film) for proper exposure of the film and saturation of the colors. The opposite ("expose" for the shadows) would be true for negative film.

Hope that's a little more clear.

Tuna

 

[siv]

yeah, i got you, somewhat. i'll probably ruin a few rolls of film trying to get it just right when i get into my photo classes next semester....