Another image from my Lowkey assignment portrait shoot of my sister playing her harp. This shot is not sharply focused because I had trouble in the low light getting my camera to auto focus sometimes (Mike ended up turning on the lights to let me focus, then I changed to manual focus and he turned the lights off) but this is an example where I don't think it hurts the image. There is actually a preset in the Photoshop plug-in Silver Efex with a soft focus treatment but I did not have to use it. There is also a lot of grain because the original shot was very under-exposed but again, I think it gives the photograph a more vintage feel. I increased the exposure in ACR by just under one full stop, and used a selectively applied levels adjustment layer in CS5 to get more of her face and the upper harp visible and also used one of the sepia effects in Silver Efex.
I think I like this one better than the one you submitted. To me, this one is more of a complete photo, it tells me more of the story. The composition is great--the hands and the harp both point you two her face, which I believe is the subject, yet they add all the details that you need to understand the photo. Again, I like the fact that you cannot see all of her face; it puts her more into context with her instrument.
ReplyDeleteReally, really nice work.