Photo Remix 02
While my first Photo Remix focused on an edit where the edit was a litte heavy handed, I wanted to bring up a rare example of an image where I feel I may have under corrected.
The image below was captured in more of a street photography style than the first image, which was from a structured photo session. If I remember correctly, I walked up from behind this guy with his rat on his shoulder and snapped the photo from his side. We stopped and chatted and I got a few other images as well.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM
ƒ/1.4
1/8000 s
35 mm
ISO 50
Straight out of camera image
My knee-jerk reaction? I still like the composition and subject placement just as much as I did the first time I saw it. There’s something about how it’s framed that feels intentional. The color’s actually pretty solid too, as long as said color wasn’t in shadow. Overall though, the image is way too dark. The exposure misses the mark, and the horizon line cuts awkwardly through the background. I think the main focus point is on the rat which means I missed focus on the mans’ eyes. Shooting wide open at f/1.4 used to be my default, because I was obsessed with bokeh. But it cost me here. If I had shot this at f/3.2 or even f/4, I could’ve nailed both the man’s face and the rat in sharp focus while still keeping the dreamy separation I wanted. And with that kind of aperture, I could’ve gotten away with a slower shutter speed even in bright sunlight. Lesson learned.
2012 Edit:
With this early edit, I didn’t totally lift the shadows—there’s still some tonal depth to work with, which I like. And the colors stay fairly true to the original scene, but it may be too dark. Or just flat. The shadows are leaning into this weird blue cast that doesn’t add anything and actually makes the image feel colder and less inviting.
2025 Color Edit:
I was able to recover way more shadow detail than ever before, and while the horizon line still isn’t perfect, I did manage to improve it slightly by leveling the horizon. But that fix came at a cost - the crop changed slightly and the framing is a little tighter. You lose all context of the man holding an electric razor in his hand in the new edit, but to be fair, it was barely perceptible in the original crop. The colors are great, and I think I found a nice mix of letting the shadows be brightened but still keeping contrast in the tone and colors of the photo. I also think bringing in the shadows up the man’s face shows a bit of sadness in his eyes I haven’t seen before in any of the other edits.
Bonus 2025 Black and White Edit:
This black and white version simplifies the composition in a way that really tightens up the image. All of the textures and contrasty parts of the image being on the subject of the rat and the man allows for the most focused edit yet. The downside to black and white? You lose the context of the water in the background, which might be a meaningful loss… or maybe it doesn’t matter at all.
What’s your preference of these 4 images above?