I'm looking for some Photoshop help with this photo. The face is very brightly lit from one side, and I think this might look better if there wasn't so much whiteness on that side of his face. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to selectively reduce the exposure? Any other techniques? Or, do you like the bright light on his face. Have I lost detail or maintained the right amount of detail?
1/40 sec, F3.2, ISO-50, cropped
Photoshop: Converted to b&w using the Channel Mixer (100% Red, -10% Green, 10% Blue), and very slightly adjusted levels and curves.
I don't think the light on his face is so bad, but the other side is kind dark. I discovered that using shadows/highlights works very well for this. If you want to make the shadows lighter, you just move the slider to the right, (same for making the highlights darker). I don't know the technical meaning of each of the sliders, but I get the general idea and here's my adjustment. what do you think?
With all that taken into consideration I think it's a very good shot. Good luck. I like these kind of pictures where the victim/subject is caught unaware.
Thanks for your comment Ellen. I just realized that I never said in the About section what I already did to it in Photoshop! I did try levels and curves actually, but I think my problem is that if I adjust so that one side of his face looks good, then the other side looks bad. Maybe there just isn't much I can do if the light source is that bright!
As for holding something white, that is a good suggestion. I definitely need to keep that in mind. I couldn't do it here because I was trying not to let him know I was taking the photo. (This is from the hip and he's used to me having the camera around all the time, so I don't think he'd realized yet that I was actually taking pictures).)
Try levels first if that doesn't do it try curves. I'm just starting out, I'm sure others will help you too. Next time you could try holding some thing white on the dark side to reflect the light and give a more even light.
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