Composite - 2 shots - Night Light

[bratha]

Hi all,

I'm really keen to get better at creating composite photos from separate images... my main problem is generally maintaining consistent lighting to keep it as realistic as possible.

I had the idea for the below photograph, and wanted to do a test run first by myself, so this photo was done with a self timer on the camera and a quick dash to the location.

The first shot was in my bedroom with all the lights off, except for torchlight under the covers.Shot at ISO 800, f5.6 and 30 second exposure time.

The second shot in the park at the end of my street was at ISO 200, f 8.0 and 30 second exposure. Both done on my Canon 400D.

So my question is really, do you think it works? Is it believable? And most importantly, any advice on how I could make it more believable, or what you think gives it away.

On self critique, I think the bed shot was underexposed, meaning I needed to do quite a bit of burning to make it stand out the way I wanted it to. The negative effect is quite a bit of noise, particularly at the foot of the bed.

Anyway, sorry for the essay, but I'd really love any feedback. Like I said, I am really keen on improving my skills at composite photography.

Thanks!

[windrider86]

I see what you were going for but it still needs some work.
For instance, the top part of the bed is well lit, but to make it real it needs to appear that the light is coming from somewhere. I would laso think that a part of that lighting might also fall onto the ground a bit, which it does look like it on the one side but at the foot of th bed where its very dark, the grass beneath it is lit up a little.
The the one side there is a tiny ray of light coming in, what was that from?

[bratha]

I was trying to suggest that the light source was coming from under the sheet. My idea was to have someone reading by torchlight under the covers. I was hoping to have a silhouette that more clearly illustrated this, but couldn't quite pull it off, particularly without the help of a second person.

I think you are right though, without the reason for the bed being lit up being obvious enough, it is a bit tricky to justify the light source.

As for he light leak on the right, that was a bit annoying. That was from the single street light that was illuminating the park. I could have a go at cloning it out, or even crop it a bit more.

Thanks a lot for your feedback!