I wanted to convey through a picture two silhouettes at the entrance to a cave, of a girl and her dog. I wanted to show the play of light and shadow through a strong light source from the outside. I also added some lighting from the inside in order to convey some texture of stones and rocks.

I wanted to know if there was a chance for this picture to be selected at all?

Did you like the idea?

And how would you process the image maybe differently, maybe less to show the texture of the cave from the inside or a closer crop or something else? I would appreciate any recommendation and idea. 

Your comment would be most helpful.

Thanks in advance

parameters: 

iso:500

f-stop: 2.8

exposure time: 1/100 sec

focal length: 12mm

Hi Svetlana,

thank you for sharing the image and including the technical details. I will start by saying no one but the curators know if this will be selected or not. Selection is a black box for everyone.

I like the idea, and the tones. My main issue here is the focus, it seems to be behind the subject, and at f2.8 you have quite a shallow depth of field. I do not know how to make this sharper. maybe shooting 1/50 or 1/25 with a tripod or monopod (or even putting the camera on a rock and holding it steady) would have let you get more of this in focus as you could have used almost f8.

I hope this helps,

cheers,

Calin

Hi and welcome Calin is right the main subject is not sharp everything else in fine great framing and well thought out in terms of composition. I've tried using Topaz AI Sharpen with some dodge tool work see attached - I still think in terms of overall quality it falls short in my view.

This is a beautiful black-and-white silhouette shot showing a woman and a dog in a cave, facing each other with the cave opening providing a dramatic backlight. To improve this image while preserving its mood, here are some suggestions:

⸻

1. Adjust Exposure and Contrast

• Current: The backlight is quite strong, causing a loss of detail in the woman’s and dog’s silhouettes.

• Improve: Slightly decrease the exposure of the background and lift the shadows just enough to reveal a hint of texture in the subjects. This maintains the silhouette feel but gives them more dimension.

⸻

2. Sharpen the Silhouettes

• Apply selective sharpening to the edges of the woman and dog to create more separation from the background light.

⸻

3. Tone and Grading

• Consider subtle split toning (cool shadows, warm highlights) to give the image more emotional depth while staying in monochrome.

• Add a subtle vignette to draw the eye inward and enhance the sense of intimacy and mystery.

⸻

4. Composition

• The framing is quite strong with the figures centered, but:

• Improve balance by slightly adjusting the crop to follow the rule of thirds, placing the woman and dog closer to a third line to add visual interest.

• Add foreground detail or texture subtly to create more depth if shooting again.

⸻

5. Retouching

• Clean up minor distractions on the cave floor or walls using spot healing or cloning.

⸻

6. Optional Creative Enhancements

• Color version: Try adding a subtle warm tone or sepia effect for a nostalgic feel.

• Soft light rays: Add faint, directional light rays from the cave opening to give a dreamy atmosphere.

Hello, Svetlana

Welcome to our forum. What you have tried to do here is an idea that I really like. Yet allow me to say technically it is really challenging. I think it is not easy to achieve how one would envision it. However, trying is the best we can do. You have already had great advice as I have seen. I also wanted to give it a try. The curation process is Pandora's box to us all. Let's see try an see. 

I took a screenshot of your image. Then I loaded it onto Photoshop. Here are used the filter Autumn Colors in Camera Raw. Then I darkened the highlights more, added more clarity to the subjects, and also increased the texture on the sujects. This darkened the image and I was left with some background light and rim light on the subjects. I will post that too so you can see how it looked. As you wanted to leave some texture on the subjects I blended your original image and the one I edited on PS and added a layer mask to it. The one I edited was on the top. Then I took a brush and with the black color to reveal the layer in the background I revealed the light shining into the cave. I reduced the strength of the brush  to 12 and started brushing of the subjects. So I revealed some texture. Let's see if you like it or not. It was just an attempt to help out. Take good care...Cicek

The one above was used to get the rim light on the subjects.

This was after the layer mask was applied.

 Good day.

I think that better make more in blue colors 

Svetlana Kirzh PRO

 

 

 

 

I wanted to convey through a picture two silhouettes at the entrance to a cave, of a girl and her dog. I wanted to show the play of light and shadow through a strong light source from the outside. I also added some lighting from the inside in order to convey some texture of stones and rocks.

I wanted to know if there was a chance for this picture to be selected at all?

Did you like the idea?

And how would you process the image maybe differently, maybe less to show the texture of the cave from the inside or a closer crop or something else? I would appreciate any recommendation and idea. 

Your comment would be most helpful.

 

Thanks in advance

 

parameters: 

iso:500

f-stop: 2.8

exposure time: 1/100 sec

focal length: 12mm

Hi thanks for sharing that nice picture with all of us :) 

So I would suggest - next time if you plan to redo this type of shot to place your model closer to the entrance of the cave as more light will hit them and the shadow will be stronger on the other side. 

As you can see in your picture, there are some places where the shadows should be stronger/darker, but you still can see some details on the girl's clothes and the dog's fur.

When you want to achieve a full silhouetted shot, try to keep the main areas in focus and with proper light and the areas that don't need to capture the viewer's attention in shadows at 70% or 80%. All of this can be achieved through manual editing in lightroom using a brush :D

Well done :) 

Try to work on it and submit it to the curators.

Hi Svetlana.

I have viewed this pages several times, thoughout various members' excellent contributions to the possible development / improvement of this image. You have received some very impressive advice and examples. However, I have not been able to change my original opinion that, alas, I think the original photograph might be unrecoverable. I hate to say this because I have used some truly appalling photographs I have taken to make interesting images - but, in all those cases, I have been working in abstracts. else surreal works. When I have produced photographs of a specific subject, I have also often produced unrecoverable images and had to chalk them to experience. I'm afraid my best advice (and it is only mine - you have plenty of other options) is to do similar but also to re-shoot this very subject when opportunity presents. Sorry to be so blunt but, from my perspective, that would be your best option.

Let us consider the photograph you presented here.

The concept - I love it. Mind you, I always warn to anything sympathetic to dogs, so you have a head-start. This portrayal of a woman's best-friend is a great idea.

The execution - You may need to do multiple-exposures and focus-stacking to enable a good post-blend. Dramatic light disparity is always a challenge for photographers but here it exists in an extreme. I would quite like to see some of the view from the cave but, if you do not wish that why not silhouette the couple against that white-out? (At least more of their heads, leaving some light fringe on the rest of their bodies). All that I really look at, as a viewer, is that bright-white interrogation lamp.

Also, can you remove in post the dog-lead? Essential to have it there for the dog's safety on the shoot but looks too tethered and rather undermines that voluntary friendship in the final image. (Again, I have made that error - numerous times).

Thanks for the photo-stats. 12mm is uber wide/close and explains why the photo has problems. I am assuming that is all the depth the cave has? Or was this shot on a mobile 'phone? (or both?) Any-which-way, to improve the qualty, perhaps try using a better camera/lens if you cannot place it further away from the subjects (Clearly the subjects cannot recede further). But, as I mentioned before, try various shots and blend them. Generally, I never mind foregrounds being out-of-focus because our eyes do not have everything sharp simultaneously. However, here there is so little depth to the image (because of its location) that I think more sharpness is ndeeded all-round.

Hope something helps - good luck and thank you. Cheerio.

Thank you all so much for your recommendations, opinions, tips for improvements.

Will take everything into account next time. Thank you again. Happy to learn from you.