Center Stage

[Razordance]

I went to see some friends perform the other night, and this is one of 2 shots that I took that I liked. The stage was too dark to get much, but for some reason I think that this one works. I think it looks fairly dramatic the way you can just sor of see him in the shadow. There was only one white stage light and he happened to be the one under it. The other guys were under blue and I wasn't able to get enough light on them for a good picture. I'm wondering whether the shot is still too dark. I can lighten it somewhat if I edit the RAW image, or pull some of the yellow cast from the light out, but of all the options, I think I like it best as is... I was considering cropping his strumming hand out of the frame. Any recommendations?

Camera: Olympus E-410
Mode: Manual
Focal Length: 106mm (212mm equivalent)
Shutter: 1/25th
f/18
Exposure Compensation: 0.0 EV
Flash: Off

[GadgetRick]

Definately a bit too dark. Looks like his head and left hand are floating in space.

Right idea but you need a little better exposure.

[wamplers]

There's enough light (on my monitor) that he doesn't appear to be floating, but it could stand to be a little brighter.

[Razordance]

Does this edit look any better? I brightened the exposure by 1.1 EV, backed the contrast off a notch, and doubled it with a slightly blurred layer (to try and minimize noise from brightening the exposure). I also cropped it, which I hated doing because I really like seeing the whole guitar, but I found the motion in his strumming hand to be too distracting. The crop also eliminated the headstock of his bandmate's guitar which only became visible after I brightened the shot. Although it's still pretty dark, you can actually see the lines in his suit this time, rather than losing them completely in the shadow.

[GadgetRick]

The crop isn't bad but it didn't need cropping to start.

Your white balance may be off unless that's the color light they used to illuminate the player(s). Looking very yellow.

I probably wouldn't increase the exposure overall (that's a large increase, btw), rather, I'd just lighten up the areas which are too dark. Don't know what software you're using so I can't tell you how to do it.

[Razordance]

Originally Posted by GadgetRick

The crop isn't bad but it didn't need cropping to start.

Your white balance may be off unless that's the color light they used to illuminate the player(s). Looking very yellow.

I probably wouldn't increase the exposure overall (that's a large increase, btw), rather, I'd just lighten up the areas which are too dark. Don't know what software you're using so I can't tell you how to do it.

I do RAW editing in Olympus Master 2, and everything else in Photoshop 7.

[GadgetRick]

I use mostly LR to edit but I'm guessing PS also allows you to, "paint," mask areas? If so, paint the areas you want to bump up the exposure on and bump those areas up slightly. Just be careful not to go too high as you'll get noise. Besides, you don't need to increase it that much to make the photo even more interesting.

[vbhakuni]

Nice Low light shot...!!!!