Comments on: Salvaging Severely Underexposed Photos

By: Kwame Busia

Kwame Busia — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:13:25 +0000

I am sometimes of the opinion that when an image is toast, it’s toast. Yes, it’s possible to salvage it with curves, level etc, but sometimes an image is D.O.A – it’s best to just let it flatline!

By: scruffyone

scruffyone — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:59:43 +0000

To be honest, I couldnt see a use for this pic unless you were doing something for a horror film. I wouldnt call it art, so much as someone overdoing effects and calling it ‘art’. There must have been a point in the process where the result was not as extreme. sometimes less is more.

By: Clarence Zimmerman

Clarence Zimmerman — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:27:27 +0000

I find it funny how you got more positive response here to this article than the overexposed one.

A photographer has a choice. Throw it out or take it one step farther. This day and age with digital some times, unless its a once in a life time trip halfway around the world or something, you can easily re-shoot. Or you can tweak your photograph. NOW! imho if a photograph can not be tweaked to the point it is a valid photograph by the “standards” of what a photograph is then you can take it to the next step and turn it into a pice of art. Many people do not want to go there because htye are photographers not artists and thats ok, but for those with the talent that wish to dwell there teqniques like this one can be great to move beyond the photograph and rescue a bad outcome.

Today photograph and traditional art are merging with this new digital era, this is just one sample of just how. And you don’t even need the best photo in the world to cross over, you just need a vision to see what it could become.

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:37:40 +0000

…or not.

By: Alvin Van Treese

Alvin Van Treese — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:04:45 +0000

I have more of those underexposed images than I care to admit to, so i found this article very informative. Mahalo and keep up the good work.

By: scruffyone

scruffyone — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:24:47 +0000

Its a good article in essence, although I think it could have been done better. The finished result looks a bit spooky for me! When I got into photography all of 3 months ago (lol) I started using RAW files for this exact reason. Thankfully I havent taken meny that require such drastic treatment, although one of my ‘mistakes is here http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3265/3206300471_23f93a4973.jpg, and it has had the best feedback of any of my pics (not sure what that says about my skills as a photographer)

By: Seenu Subbu

Seenu Subbu — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:03:22 +0000

Jeffrey, you redeemed my hopes as a photographer :-) Not with the tip but the first few lines of your article.
I badly screwed up one or two defining photos of a recent birthday party shoot. I was left cursing myself over the severe underexposure and noise, but did try what you just mentioned. Trying to move from “enthusiastic hobbyist” to a pro and goof ups such as these would shatter one’s morale. It’s good to know even pros make such mistakes :-)

By: John W

John W — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:10:56 +0000

why not use shadow/highlight as Flores says? It always is a quick fix for me. I think this “fix” in the following link using the shadow/highlight (which was about 2 clicks and no layers) is superior in the results:

http://www.oldhousetours.com/historic-property-images/shadowhigh.jpg

Thanks for putting the source image on your post so I could test/compare.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:47:04 +0000

Hi All
I am fairly new to photography and have only just found this site.
I found this and some of the other tips/lessions/ideas to be really enlightening.
Being new to the art, I take heaps of “bad” shots but photos are a memory, a reminder of what you saw, of the event and are a chance to share it or these with others.
The knowledge that I can, at the very least, rescue these “bad” shots to be able to keep this memory is something very grand.
I love the site (ads and all) and hope to be able to contribute to it in the future.

By: daveymars

daveymars — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:20:17 +0000

Whilst I don’t have Photoshop, I do have Lightroom2 and Elements 7 and what I’ve been able to do with a couple of exposures very similar to that is create some very interesting graphic/poster art effects that use all that grain and grit and with some colorization and various effects here and there taken a truly crap photo and turned it into artwork I’ve framed and put in my office–that gets really good compliments. The technique demonstrated here is wonderful for getting the photo to the point that one could play with it further–my problem is that when I do these things (because I’m a total amateur) I can’t list back for you the steps I used to make them happen–they just do. (Not because I’m talented–but because I get doggedly determined to create SOMETHING!) LOL.. It’s fun and, Jeff, this posting really is helpful for me– Good work!!! Thanks!