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How does this look on your monitor?

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R2D2

R2D2

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This looked pretty dark on my buddy's monitor at work today (non-calibrated). I was hoping to give it kind of a spooky (dark) feel, but still wanted the pines to be obvious enough.

Can you make out the pines in the upper left quadrant OK? Or maybe I should lighten them a bit?

On another note, do you think I should remove the branch in the lower right corner (do you find it distracting?).



Any C&C is welcome.

Many thanks,
R2

--
*
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries
 
I have a fairly nice Viewsonic VA903b LCD Monitor. I can't tell what is in the background - just in the hole in the middle can I see some detail of Pine Needles. I think the shot of the Eagle is startling! Would have liked to see at least some background detail.
--
OFBU
 
I see it dark too. The body is almost as dark as the background. The face is the only clear subject. The branch in the lower corner is not an issue if you keep the background like this.
--
Ahmad

http://flickr.com/photos/3ammo
 
though my monitor is not 'professionally' calibrated, it is close to being correctly calibrated. I'm on a Samsung Syncmaster 191N.

I took the liberty of copying your image and quickly threw it into Irfanview (viewer) and simply kicked up gamma slider to about 1.40 and the nice green needles, etc. were evident...and it didn't seem to take away from the effect you intended?

Great capture!

--
Jim K...just outside Detroit, MI
DeeEighty; DeeFifty; CeeTwentyOneHundred; EffZeeFiveK

http://www.pbase.com/jkorsog ...Pbase supporter
http://motorcityjim.fotopic.net/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/motor_city_jim/
 
Thanks very much for responding. I will definitely kick the levels up a notch. I plan on submitting the image in a contest, and thank you again for all your feedback.

R2

--
*
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries
 
I can makeout the needles in most of the photo and the Eagle is nicely highlighted, except the lower body is dark which is probably OK for this type of photo. Yes on cloning out the branch.

Jim
 
Filter/render/lighting effects. Because it will darken areas of the picture that you may not want so dark, best to create a dup layer (ctrl-J) and then mask out portions of the effect you don't like using a brush dialed down to about 25. If you want real flexibility, before applying the effect, convert the dup layer to a sart filter layer (filter/convert for smart filter). That will allow you to go back into the lighting effect dialogue box and re-render the effect to your liking as many times as you like.
--
http://brick.smugmug.com/
 
Yes, left part of the image is dark, but not that much. I'd tend to say : don't change anything. If you add light to the left, to better show the pines, you get the adverse effect of blocking the eagle flight and gaze, reducing the dramatic effect that you get with the picture untouched.
Cheers
Jean-Pierre
 
Many thanks to all for the suggestions.

I entered the image (as is) in our Photoclub's annual Photo Contest, and it received 3rd Place in the "Nature" category!

But alas... I should have listened closer (as the Judge thought it was a bit too dark as well). :-)

So I've sent it back into Photoshop and made some adjustments (special thanks go to Brick3308 and his magic touch).

Here's the original...



And the Revised final version...



Again, thanks to everybody. You sure are a great group.
R2

--
*
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries
 
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