Sleeping Angel

The area where her face is dark has more noise than I would like. Does anyone know how

to make dark areas richer and smoother, even when I use exposure compensation to make

up for hte lack of available light? Right now, the lighting in the photo is very close to what

I actually saw... but how do I reduce the noise?

If you meter on the face and underexpose about 1 1/2 stops, you won't have to compensate using levels or curves. Thats where noise is a problem.

I like the shadow detail and the rim lighting, but this cries out for a neutral background. Also a greater DOF.

Carl -- I agree completely about the neutral background. (I suppose I could PS it just for kicks, but I strongly prefer unmanipulated photos.) Greater DOF would end up de-emphasizing her face, but I appreciate the suggestion.

By the way, I had only seen the photo on my iBook, and the face was NOWHERE near as dark on that screen. Now that I see it on the CRTs at work, I realize that the face needs to be lighter. I guess I need to recalibrate my LCD panel... maybe I should hook up a CRT next to it and just try to get it to match as best I can.

As for your help about metering the face and underexposing 1.5 stops, I tried it with someone else and it worked beautifully! Shadow detail was MUCH more visible and yet still dark, and the lighting was perfect. Thank you for your help!

-Matt