Revelation - Advice welcome

Granddad · Nov 22, 2016

It isn't very often during a live stage production that pose and facial expression come together with (almost) perfect lighting. I shot a dance show on Saturday in London and I'm working my way through the shots. I'm about a quarter of the way through so far and THIS one stopped me in my tracks.
I've made very few adjustments apart from deepening the blacks and then compensating in her hair with a little more exposure and highlights in LR. Then I took it to PS, increased the size of the background a little and erased some of the original background that had a blue tint. There remains a blue/purple tint around the edges of her hair from the stage lighting.

Did I overdo the hair correction?

Maybe a little more space on top for her to look into?

Can I improve this or should I leave it alone?

tirediron · Nov 22, 2016

I'm not at a great monitor right now, but this looks very good to me. The crop works and the exposure seems right on.

The_Traveler · Nov 25, 2016

This is as nice a shot as I've seen of your, Mark.
I would crop to 4 x 5 and move her a tiny bit more to the center but otherwise just beautiful.

480sparky · Nov 25, 2016

The_Traveler said:
This is as nice a shot as I've seen of your, Mark.
I would crop to 4 x 5 and move her a tiny bit more to the center but otherwise just beautiful.

I agree.

Gary A. · Nov 25, 2016

I echo the above ... but I'd trim a bit off the top and bottom, but I like tight. Also the face is darker than the belly and I would lighten the face just a smidgen.

jcdeboever · Nov 25, 2016

Love it, everything gorgeous.

Granddad · Nov 25, 2016

The_Traveler said:
This is as nice a shot as I've seen of your, Mark.
I would crop to 4 x 5 and move her a tiny bit more to the center but otherwise just beautiful.
View attachment 130813

Thanks Lew, I think you're right about the tweak. It will be done in the final image.

Gary A. said:
I echo the above ... but I'd trim a bit off the top and bottom, but I like tight. Also the face is darker than the belly and I would lighten the face just a smidgen.

Good point but I felt she needed some space to look into. I'll play with crops a bit and see but to my taste Lew has it right on at 4x5. On the facial light, I was working through 1400 photos with very varied stage lighting (varied from like this to bl**dy awful with stage smoke added into the bargain) so I missed that. I'll give it a try, just a smidgen.

Derrel · Nov 25, 2016

jcdeboever said:
Love it, everything gorgeous.

Indeed! Nice lighting pattern for this pose. I LOVE the high main light!

Granddad · Nov 26, 2016

Derrel said:
Indeed! Nice lighting pattern for this pose. I LOVE the high main light!

Derrel, it was shot live on stage in London. I can claim no credit for the lighting pattern or the pose; I got VERY lucky is all.

The_Traveler · Nov 26, 2016

Granddad said:
I got VERY lucky is all.

Don't belittle your part in this; you got the shot when the existing light was just right and the pose not only looked great but was appropriate for the light. That's the essence of photography.