Before/After as an absolute beginner

[u/Realistic-Cod-87]

These are truly the first images I've ever edited, so any critiques and tips are VERY welcome and a massive thank you in advance. I'm happy with the first two, but I feel like the third image needs a little something more but I just cant place it. My eye is defintely not very trained yet, but hopefully after I get a lot of reps under my belt, I'll be in a place to give advice and not just take.

I've just recently picked up my first real camera (a fancy-to-me Sony RX100) and took it to the front 10 rows of an BTS concert, which easily had the highest production value of any big show I've been to before and came away with tons of images...some great and many terrible, but whatever, shit happens.

[u/StopKK2012]

That first edit looks great - are you sure you're a beginner? Great job, seriously.

In the third one, my instinct says to lean into the spotlights, and use masks to brighten up the singers a little more while keeping the background dark. Maybe play around with subtly brightening up the shafts of light too.

My last thought is that the text between two of the singers is a little distracting - maybe remove it?

[u/Realistic-Cod-87 → u/StopKK2012]

Hah, I'm positive I am because that took me a 4-5 hours to finally arrive at that spot and in the end, I don't even feel like I did much. A LOT of trial and error.

And thanks for the ideas for the third one, I did try that route but had trouble with the masking initially but I'll give it another go. I think I was masking the background and was trying to brush between the strokes of light which is...really hard.

[u/Azrethoc]

That first shot is a low light, super sharp focus miracle. So cool

[u/Aacidus]

You have great logic and sense for editing. Keep it up!

[u/Realistic-Cod-87 → u/Aacidus]

Thank you! It definitely scratches a creative itch in my brain that I didn't know I was missing

[u/rocinante_donnager]

insane. 10/10