Stella, Low Key

[purplehaze]

The temps were bitter cold at the lake last weekend (-40 windchill), so it was not the photographic opportunity I had hoped. Here is one I took indoors of Stella after a long romp in the snow. C&C welcome.

DSC_1952 - Version 2 by onesun1moon, on Flickr

70-200 mm at 95 mm, 100 ISO, f/5.6, 1/60, on-camera SB700 fired through Rogue FlashBender softbox

[Mike Buckley]

Such a nice composition!

Consider using a Levels and Curve tool to raise the black point, lower the white point and increase the mid-tone contrast. The image will have more punch (won't look so flat) but will retain the overall low-key mood.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Mike; I was thinking I'd gone too dark; I'll give it another go.

[Shadowman]

Very gritty composition. Nicely done.

[Geoff F]

I suppose it depends on exactly what you want from this image. At the moment it is rather dark instead of being true low key.

If that is what you want, it will mean darkening the shadows until they start to lose detail, but keep the brighter areas sufficiently high, as Mike mentioned.

But watch out for excessive noise. The background is already starting to get a bit noisy. I would run over those areas with a light Blur Brush to clean them up a little. Alternatively you can create selections to selectively apply noise reduction software.

[NorthernFocus]

Per prior comments it's nicely composed but awfully dark. Yes the pup looks tired.

[Marie Hass]

Jan?

What was your intent with this picture?

Was the picture actually under exposed to start with? What were your flash settings? I can tell the flash fired.

Good to see Stella again. How old is she now?

Marie

[rpcrowe]

A mistake and a surprise... I was going to try to work on this using NIK Viveza but, I clicked on NIK HDR Effex by mistake. This was one of the presets which doesn't look all that bad for a single click...

[Cananeer]

Janis - I realy like the shot the way it is nicely done and she looks tuckerd out. Wonderful capture!

[John 2]

That's a lovely capture Janis. All is clearly well with the World. Needs pushing to the right on the histogram but a nice composition. Nice image.

[IzzieK]

Nicely captured Janis...a bit on the dark side though but if it is your choice, I can't complain...she seems so tired after her romp...most dogs do...

[Downrigger]

Really like this. Handsome pup, thinking about food at this point I think. Very happy "mistake" with NIK! And I like the light vignette very much.

[orinoco]

thats a great shot..like the process (whether intentional or not) you've captured the moment just right

[purplehaze]

That's not half bad, Richard; thanks! I struggled with this sometime myself yesterday. In answer to your question, Marie, the original exposure was decent enough and I had no intent at the time of shooting other than try out the Rogue Flashbender softbox on a few captive subjects. (Stella only ever stays still for the camera when she is thoroughly exhausted.) I knew from the outset that this one would have to be processed in b&w, because of the teal colour of the carpet, which clashes rather badly with Stella's colouring. As I browsed through the presets in SEP, the dense mottling of the carpet was proving a distraction, except in the presets that introduced "grain", like Triste 2 (I believe, Geoff, that what you saw as noise was in fact this so-called "grain"). Now, I might as well confess that I have an unnatural predilection for Triste. But, whereas I might told you without hesitation at an earlier time in my life that my nature was essentially melancholic, the only thing that suggests to me that that might still be the case is my fondness for this preset. Whatever the truth, that preset appealed to me at least in part because I cannot look at Stella now without feeling a little sadness due to her age (12) and the knowledge that, at some point in the not-too-distant future, we will be parted. I fiddled a bit with the presets in the original, did some selective processing here and there, and added the vignette to further attenuate the distraction of the carpet. After going back in a second time and playing with the preset some more, it seems that this look relies heavily on soft contrast. Everything I have tried to do so far to make the image brighter while preserving the mood has been less than satisfying, but I will persevere as the exercise is teaching me more about SEP and preparing images for processing in that program.

I do like your version, Richard; I will try to replicate your mistake and see if I can't tweak it a bit to get to the place I want. Thanks for your comments, all; much appreciated.

[Mike Buckley]

Janis,

Just a couple follow-up thoughts...

My version of your very nice composition was changed by only adjusting the levels and curve to raise the black point, lower the white point, and adjust the curve to increase overall brightness and mid-tone contrast. Naturally, you can adjust those factors (or not) in whatever direction suits you. My adjustments are provided in the display of my levels and curve tool.








Notice the difference between your histogram, mine and Richard's shown below. Though you were concerned about your version being too dark, the true blacks weren't even being used. I suspect that your concern was based on the distribution of the mid-tones rather than the dark tones.

By the way, notice also that the histograms display color channels. That indicates that you didn't take the image to true black-and-white; you left some color in it. That's a point of interest, not a critique.

Histogram of Janis's version -- Darkest



Histogram of Mike's version -- Brighter



Histogram of Richard's version -- Most Bright

[purplehaze]

Well, I do thank you, Mike; I have been labouring under the misconception that my white point was the point furthest to the right at which the histogram was registering information, so in that context, lowering suggested to me quite the opposite of what you meant. (Blush.) Even though I understood the part about better distributing the mid-contrast. I did register that there were no true blacks in my version. As far as the colour goes, I must have added selenium toning, so you are right, I should have called it a monochrome. I should start saving my recipes, as not doing so makes it harder to learn from experience.

Without taking away from the appeal of Richard's version, yours is closer to what I was trying to achieve. Thank you very much for your time and your persistence in trying to pierce my thickheadedness.

[Mike Buckley]

I should start saving my recipes, as not doing so makes it harder to learn from experience.

Saving your recipes will also make it possible to retain the edit steps you originally used while changing perhaps only one or two of them upon changing your post-processing. That's generally preferable to most people rather than having to start all over from scratch.