low light - need opinions

[srt]

Here is a shot I took of my poor daughter after she dropped an egg and was so unhappy to find out that they break....I really love this shot but am now wondering if it's just the whole mummy goggles thing. The reason is: I got it printed and was very unhappy with the resulting image. I don't think it was the print job, I think i can just see the flaws more now. I actually have this in my portfolio on my website, so I would love some opinions so I can decide whether to leave it or not or reprocess it.

1. Her skin seems dirty or noisy, she does have some freckles but thats not what i'm talking about, maybe it's just too dark - not sure

2. The detail and light in her eyes seems lacking

3. is it too close

Thanks for any help/comments!



Camera: Canon EOS 400D Digital
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.2
Focal Length: 28 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

[SusanH1970]

Awww I love her sad expression and the little tear....but yeah, it's way too dark. Look at the whites of her eyes, how dark they are. Did you shoot this in RAW? You may be able to bring the exposure up. Hard to tell about her skin unless I can see it brighter. I don't mind the close crop and Iike how you've given her some space to look into.

That being said, I wouldn't leave this in the portfolio. But that's just me.

[Federico Presti]

You might try bringing the exposure up, but I think you ought to keep this one in your portfolio for the following reasons:

*It is very expressive, the eyes look amazing as it is and probably would look better once you've lightened it up

*You rarely see photos of children crying, obviously everybody tries to shoot them happy and cheerful

*The story behind this photo is very cute, and the fact that it's an authentic emotion makes it even better. It's not only a sad child, it is true evidence of how these little people learn about the world around them, and of how innocent they really are.

It is a lovely photo, thanks for sharing

[Aleix]

Amazing, powerful picture. Apart from the exposure, which in this case I don't dare to judge (I rather let users with more experience do that), the rest is perfect IMHO.

[FallinWoman]

Love this picture! So expressive! I like the crop/closeness of it. Really focuses in on the sadness in her face. I agree with the others about needing to up the exposure to brighten it. Once you do that I think you have a keeper!

[autofocus]

I played around with your image, and it can be brought back a little...I'll post it with your permission

Vince

[srt]

Thanks for everybodys input! So glad to hear that it's not just the mummy thing and that the shot is actually good (sometimes it's hard to tell!) I have started to work on fixing the exposure to see if it improves the shot - it was taken RAW thanks Susan, I always shoot that way now
Please by all means post it auto-focus, it would be nice to see what you come up with.
Frederico thanks for pointing out those reasons, they are the exact reasons I wanted to include it in my portfolio, to capture true emotion I think is a special thing. I also want to show some variation in my portraits, but only if the shot is strong enough of course.
Thanks again for the helpful opinions guys.

[autofocus]

It is a touching and sensitive image, and definitely worth the extra effort to fix. Here is what I quickly was able to do with it, but I'm sure you will be able to do even more with the original RAW file.

Vince

[SusanH1970]

Great edit, Vinnie! I played too and came up with something similar, but I like your edit better than mine.

[slewi]

I liked the original version, but that edit is top notch. Did I miss the EXIF info? Maybe auto-focus can share how he edited the photo so that those of us still underexposing can get an idea of what works to correct it?