unhappy with my shots (clubs/djs). not "crisp". bad post processing?

[2tall]

I've been shooting clubs/djs for just a few months now and starting to get more consistent with my settings. However, I'm still unhappy with the final display of my shots. Sure, I like the colors, framing, etc. but by the time I post the shot on the web, they look wrong to me. One frustrating thing is that if I try to use the histogram as a guide, I blow out the highlights. So overall, I know my shots are bit too dark, but they also look too contrasty, not sharp enough, and skin tones are inconsistent. In general, they just don't look "crisp".

Any advice?
Any pattern as too what I seem to be doing consistently wrong?
Is it the RAW adjustments that need work, or more of the final jpg sharpening and export?


Typical settings:
Canon 20D
Tokina 12-24mm
Off camera 430ex flash via Canon ST-E2 IR Transmitter
Shutter priority, 1/10 to 1/2 sec
Usually ISO 400
RAW
Post processing in Adobe Lightroom, sometimes just a handful of adjustments, other times a dozen

My site is http://WWW.KNG.DM
(lots of shots from San Francisco, most at 1015 Folsom, Paul Van Dyk, Deadmau5, Christopher Lawrence, John 00 Fleming, etc)

And a few random shots:
1. http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/th__MG_0699_kngdm.jpg (http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/_MG_0699_kngdm.jpg)
2. http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/th__MG_1287_kngdm.jpg (http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/_MG_1287_kngdm.jpg)
3. http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/th__MG_1316_kngdm.jpg (http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/_MG_1316_kngdm.jpg)
4. http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/th_kngdm_MG_1741.jpg (http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/kngdm_MG_1741.jpg)
5. http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/th_kngdm_MG_5962.jpg (http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/kngdm_MG_5962.jpg)
6. http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/th_kngdm_MG_0798_x.jpg (http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/kngdm_MG_0798_x.jpg)
7. http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/th_kngdm_MG_9945_x.jpg (http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/kngdm_MG_9945_x.jpg)
8. http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/th_kngdm_MG_0084_exported.jpg (http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/r2tll/kngdm_MG_0084_exported.jpg)

[René Damkot]

but by the time I post the shot on the web, they look wrong to me.

Are you saying they appear different on the web then in LR? If so: have a read in the link from my sig ;)

Images appear a bit on the dark side, nothing a bit of processing can't take care of.
Something like +10 brightness in LR.

[2tall]

Are you saying they appear different on the web then in LR? If so: have a read in the link from my sig ;)


I think my color management between is alright, but I'm probably overdue for a refresher course on that anyways, so I'll double-check I've got all the steps covered. I think the problem might be with me doing too much post processing bumping up each element, and the result just getting muddy.

[René Damkot]

If you hit the \ key in LR, you get a "before" view... Might be useful to look if you're doing any good to the image ;)

Also, there are a lot of ways to achieve something similar in LR...

Here (http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/archives/videos/page/6/) is a video on the develop module...

Lot more info on that site, as well as here (http://lightroom-news.com/category/lightroom/lightroom-podcasts/).

Another issue might be, that the background in LR is quite dark by default. That makes the images look brighter then for instance when posted on POTN... (been there, done that)

[skifurthur]

I just looked at the EXIF and with shutters of 1/3 sec I am not surprised that the captures are not crisp. Bump up the ISO, use a faster lens or both. Anything to get a faster shutter and freeze the moment.

[rc13k]

I say you up the shutter to at least 1/15 and use flash.

[jgogums]

I don't really see anything "wrong" with the photos. It's a night club scene. I would expect it to be dark. If it was to bright it would be...um...not a night club.

rc13k: He is using off camera flash.

It can be hard to judge sharpness with a small compressed jpg linked here but I think the shots are just fine. It looks like you may be using 2nd curtain shutter to help freeze action at the end of the exposure rather than the start but if not you can try that setting to see if you can had some 'crispyness' to your subject. Again I didn't see anything really off.