I would not necessarily agree here, Vik. The exposure actually isn't too bad. David, I think the mistake you made was pushing the exposure too much while editing. In other words, you made the shot too bright.
It's a dusk shot, so it can remain a bit darker, to reflect the mood. Here is a quick edit I made:
- r4s9_zak_1280.jpg (603.79 KiB) Viewed 2703 times
The shot does show a bit of noise (due to high ISO), so I ran a noise filter on the predominant blue colour channel first. Then, I removed the dustspots (I'd recommend to clean camera and lens
).
After that, I took care of the levels. I used the "levels by colour channel" method that was discussed here a while ago. Cut back the highlights of the blue colour channel more than the other ones, to remove the greenish-yellowish hue the original showed, and bring out the blue mood.
After that, a slight kick with the dreaded shadows/highlights filter. Brings out the piano keys reflection more nicely.
Then another noise filter, sharpening, downsizing - done.
(Btw, I embedded the original database photo in the OP, hope that's okay
)
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