Low key – comments appreciated

[Mario]

Good morning,

I would like to share my first attempt of a low key shot. Comments appreciated.

Have a great day.

50mm
iso 1000
manual mode
LR edited

The Self.jpg by Mario on Light Stalking

[Gordon James]

@nanyar – if that’s your first attempt at editing for low-key I think you’ve done a pretty good job. Many people make the mistake of assuming ALL the tones have to be darkened to mid-tome or the left, resulting in a very flat image. Here you have retained some lighter tones to lift the image a little.
Dead black works OK for the background, but I think you might want to try lifting the black on the spirals just enough to hint at separation from the background. Of course, this might destroy the mystery that you are trying to create, but you’ll never know unless you try! (Of course, you may already have tried and discarded the result!!)
I do like the faint line that picks out the nose of the left hand head, but I think you ought to try using the radial filter in LR to bring out a touch of detail in that face, rather than leaving it in full black shadow. That is the only significant fault in a nice image.

[Mario]

Many Thanks for the advise. I played a bit around with the suggestion. The image below is from the same day and I made it a bit lighter.

50mm
iso 1000
manual mode
LR edited

Inner Child.jpg by Mario on Light Stalking

[Gordon James]

I think you have got the spirals and faces spot on in this second shot, but you need to deal with the highlights on the heads and the chest.
I know, no one said this sort of work was easy!

[Mario]

@gordonjames

You mean like get rid of the white spots/circles? I’ll try out.

Many thanks. BTW I never thought they might be an issues cause that’s what I saw with my eyes :o)

[Gordon James]

Mario, I think with the first image you have lightened the whole image, rather than just the face. You don’t say what version of LR you have, but in v5 (also v4?) there is a radial filter – go back to your initial, dark image and use the radial filter to just lighten the l/h face. That way you keep the whole low-key presentation.

If you haven’t used the radial filter before, note that when you start with the filter the adjustment takes place OUTSIDE the elipse you have drawn! At the bottom of the adjustment panel is a checkbox to invert the filter and so effect the inside, which is what you needed here.

[Author]

Posts