One Thing Leads to Another

Yesterday's post where I severely cropped an image has led me to another another photo from the same concert.

This is the original photo, and there are problems with it. I was working at an odd angle, which is partially why the image is a little crooked.  There is also a lot extraneous clutter all around.  But other aspects are not bad. The exposure is about as good as can be expected in very difficult nighttime, concert lighting, and the subject is fairly well placed in the frame. I have also captured a moment with an interesting expression, or at least I think so. You do what you can at such a event: capture a decent base image, and then hope to be able to work something positive in the editing phase.

So, back then in 2016, I did some straightening and cropping as well as processing to taste. It looks much better.

I also experimented with black-and-white and just kept in on file. I don't think I ever showed the image back then although I might have here but certainly not on Flickr.

That was then; now, almost two years later, I decided to crop in tight. I also removed some distractions and added a slight toning to the image which I thought was a little better than straight b&w for this image.

It has come a long way from the original, out-of-camera version. When you don't shoot in perfect conditions, post-processing is your friend. Even when conditions are better and you can take your time and get everything as right as possible in camera, the final version still requires some crafting. All photographers spend some time in the digital darkroom just as in days past and not all that long past, they would craft their images in the actual darkroom.

Addendum: I had this all set to go, and then I took another look at the photo and said to myself, "Self! Why have you left the microphone in the photo?" I replied that I didn't know an that it was silly. So, I took it out.