BygByte

This screenshot is what I do first on a photo that has a lot of intense shadows in order to see what's lurking there, and if any thing of importance can be recovered. A problem occurs when very dark areas approach 100% black [known as "blocked out"]. There is often a loss of detail/sharpness and the red/green channels, leaving a blue cast [which can be removed, but leaves a dull B&W image]. It was here that I put the guide line to describe where the bottom of the finished edit would be. I wanted to leave as much of the dark as possible to serve as the "base" for the curtained area. With the lights back up, I removed the brighter strips on the left and right edges. What was left I judged to be a pretty good minimalist photo. Then I took a look at the top border where a window frame slants to the right, but decided against the edit because, 1) it is not that significant, & 2) I don't like to make too many different changes to someone else's photo. -Tao of Photography