Playing with light

ShawWellPete

ShawWellPete

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Pete
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So, the way I look at it I've got two options when I look at Diego's black and white shots.

1. Despair, put my camera away and go back to using a camera phone.
2. Try to improve

Any thoughts on this one?

light1.jpg
 
like the composition - its great. one thing i would say is that the light coming through the blind is very harsh. maybe try the sme thing on a slighty less sunny day? either that or try to meter on the light that falls onto the face and closes to try to cushion the light better?
 
Pete.

I like it. Great shot and good conversion. I also like the shapes and the way shadows are falling on the stairs. Nice effort and thanks for the compliment. I put a soft light overly on it at 75% to tone it down a smidge but the initial shot is good and thats a great spot.

 
Hi Diego, that's the first I've heard of soft light overlay. I've googled it and had a go. I duplicated the background layer, selected soft light from the drop down menu and set the fill to 75%, is that correct?
It seems to increase the contrast, making the dark areas darker, is that the idea? Thanks for your input...
 
SW4peter said:
Hi Diego, that's the first I've heard of soft light overlay. I've googled it and had a go. I duplicated the background layer, selected soft light from the drop down menu and set the fill to 75%, is that correct?
It seems to increase the contrast, making the dark areas darker, is that the idea? Thanks for your input...
Click to expand...

Yes. thats the idea with overlay. Not sure of the eact science is they are mathmatical equations based on what is below but yes, thats ths gist. Probably be worth you sourcing a good CS2 book along the way. If yo try again, select different overlays and see how they work. You can of course mask and adjust the bottom layer which is the essence of layers but not required all the time.
 
Pete - I love this shot. Have you ever considered using Bibble Pro? It's far more basic than CS2 (which means I can use it!!) but two or three adjustments will soften the light...... if you really think it necessary?
 
Diego Garcia said:
Probably be worth you sourcing a good CS2 book along the way.
Click to expand...

You're probably right, I've got good guide on video CD which is very good but it's finding the time to sit down and work through it that's a problem. I find what really helps is asking you guys how certain effects are achieved, thrn trying to replicate it and reading tutorials in magazines and websites...
 
I hear you!

Bibble is about RAW processing, but beautifully simple and quick - think FAST lightroom!
 
You can use a public beta version now, downloadable from the Adobe web - really useful are a couple of video tutorials you can download. Looks like it's going to be a great product even though there is some functionality that Adobe haven't been able to get right just yet for us PC users.
 
It's a great shot, there's a lot of dynamic range in the shot. You were facing bright light, you'd have had to stop it way down, and it's a balancing act.

Once you've lost that much info in the highlights there's little you can do to retrieve it, but i honestly would not threat about it, because the shot is creative enough to win out
 
excellent shot, teh conversion really works well, marvelous!
 
I have to say that I love your original shot Peter....sorry Diego (you are still handsome though ;))

The contrast and detail is so unusual, I can see this in an exhibition and me standing in front of it really looking into the shot...love it!
 
Thanks Marianne, by the way, I was just clicking through your (very nice) site and you seem to have some dead links sometimes when you click on "home" at the top. I just thought I'd bring it to your attention...
 
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