how do i fix a VERY underexposed pic?

i was doing some portraits of my grandmother....and of course the ONE that i loved i have forgoten to set the flash, it came out very dark, now im trying to figure out how to lighten it up and make it look normal without too much noise. what do you suggest? ive tried curves (but seems to be alot of noise). heres the dark original & one of my many attempts at fixing it w/ curves....

[harrypalmer044]

Hi there,
shame this would have been a really nice shot, I did have a look at it as well and if you adjust it too much then there seems to be a lot of noise on her left cheek which is a shame. The only positive I can think of is that you have gained so experience on the learning curve. If you would like to see my effort let me know.
I don't think it's that good.

[inkista]

Embrace the noise. Why worry about it? If the shot is good, most people won't notice.

Alternatively, have you tried Noise Ninja or Neat Image?

Pushing the exposure (i.e., shooting underexposed and bringing it up) is always going to increase the noise of the shot. That's just the way it is.

Originally Posted by harrypalmer044

Hi there,
shame this would have been a really nice shot, I did have a look at it as well and if you adjust it too much then there seems to be a lot of noise on her left cheek which is a shame. The only positive I can think of is that you have gained so experience on the learning curve. If you would like to see my effort let me know.
I don't think it's that good.

i would love to see it! ...i kinda liked the light on her one cheek

Originally Posted by inkista

Embrace the noise. Why worry about it? If the shot is good, most people won't notice.

Alternatively, have you tried Noise Ninja or Neat Image?

Pushing the exposure (i.e., shooting underexposed and bringing it up) is always going to increase the noise of the shot. That's just the way it is.

what do you think of my edited version? is it decent? i think its light enough, but i feel like its so blah! should i add more contrast or something?

downloaded neat images, i shocked how well it worked! ive just been playing around in ps to get the contrast the way i want it...its come along way from what it was though!


update: ok so ive been playing around with it, lightened it up quite a bit...i think that i finally like it, it looks a little too bright on the computer but when i printed it and compared the two edits, i feel that this one is better. i kinda like the light shineing off her face and i think that lightening it up really made her wrinkles stand out (which is what i was looking for) so i was just looking to see what you thought of this edit!?!

....so here it is...

[JerInTheBox]

I'm pretty shocked you're able to get that much detail out of the original. You made the right call going black and white, I find that's the best way to make noise look like film grain, and it looks great. But then I like my shots pretty moody and grungy. Anyway, I think you've done a great job with this, nice save.

Originally Posted by JerInTheBox

I'm pretty shocked you're able to get that much detail out of the original. You made the right call going black and white, I find that's the best way to make noise look like film grain, and it looks great. But then I like my shots pretty moody and grungy. Anyway, I think you've done a great job with this, nice save.

thanks, i was pretty shocked myself that it came out as well as it did...i spent all day trying to decide on two edits that i had done (which one i liked better) and i think ive decided on the last image that i had posted as the best.