Is this too far?

<p>Marc,<br>

Thank you for your comments Marc. I do feel very comfortable with artificial lighting, but natural lighting is a subtly I'm still working on. I'm used to having 20 or so lights with a 5 man crew, not just using what God already put there. Reminds me of a statement by a very well respected cinematographer from yesterday who said God was the greatest cinematographer because He only used one light (and I need to work more on utilizing it ;)<br>

<br />Anyways point is, this was a spur of the moment shot when something dramatic happened in the room. But when I looked back I saw what I felt was a moment of emotional honesty, and yes I do believe in telling a story, I'm a firm believer in designing an album, and I felt this image fit in the story I was telling. The reason I posted this post, is because I knew the image was not as visually strong as it could be, so I was doing what I could in LR to try bring this image up to the visual standard of my other images, but I was worried I had taken it too far. I was never really asking if I had captured a moment of honesty, because I was sure I did, I was asking if it worked visually.</p>

<p>I have looked over Jeff Ascough's images, and they are indeed extremely impressive. His ability to detect the subtleties of light, build strong composition around them, the patients to wait for the right moment the decisiveness of capturing them is truly impressive. I would love to see what he could do with a cinema camera shooting a movie :).</p>

<p>Thank you so very much for your post. I know I'm still growing and I cannot tell you how immensely encouraging it was to read your thoughts and your encouragement.</p>

<p><strong>Skyler,</strong> I wasn't necessarily advocating the exclusive use of available or natural light ... although it is one essential piece of knowledge to acquire because it can inform you on how to use artificial light solutions that look more natural to the eye.</p>

<p>Since you already work in an environment that uses lighting, you can most certainly explore that path also. Check out the work of Bruce H Dorn, a frequent contributor to the Digital Wedding Forum (DWF) who is well known for his lighting wizardry ... often quite cinematic in look and feel.</p>

<p>http://www.digitalweddingforum.com/blog/featured-member-bruce-h-dorn</p>

<p>If you like to use B&W images a lot (I do because they focus more on content with less distractions from color renderings ), then it may be worth it to invest in a B&W post program that will expand your B&W conversion control ... my recommendation is Nik Silver Efex Pro ... which most serious B&W shooters gravitate to.</p>

<p>http://www.niksoftware.com/silverefexpro/usa/entry.php</p>

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