I tried to create some portraits of my daughters

[theantiquetiger]

OK, lets do this again. I spent 12 hours at work last night watching video after video on LR4 portrait edits.

(***edit - I realized I lost some purple in the flowers and belt of the dress. That should be easily fixed***)

Newest edit


mo mo swing by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

a view of some of the other tries


morgan swing final by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


step by step morgan by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

[Marko]

The adjustment brush (which you should have come across after 12 hours of video) - let's you 'paint in' adjustments on particular areas of the image.
Shot 1 is best so far in the new edits, but it still looks red to me.....and you didn't follow the advice. You didn't outline your steps...
and I see other programs at work here...and I'm just gonna say it... a child imo, doesn't need an airbrushed look.
You children are gorgeous AT. Both could be models. The airbrush (especially in new edit #2) makes them look UNchildlike, like they had too much plastic surgery or something.

I can't comment further on these images until I see a natural one using only LR and outlined steps.

[theantiquetiger]

The adjustment brush (which you should have come across after 12 hours of video) - let's you 'paint in' adjustments on particular areas of the image.
Shot 1 is best so far in the new edits, but it still looks red to me.....and you didn't follow the advice. You didn't outline your steps...
and I see other programs at work here...and I'm just gonna say it... a child imo, doesn't need an airbrushed look.
You children are gorgeous AT. Both could be models. The airbrush (especially in new edit #2) makes them look UNchildlike, like they had too much plastic surgery or something.

I can't comment further on these images until I see a natural one using only LR and outlined steps.

Marko, you are confused. The three images I posted this morning, only the first one is a new edition. The other two are just re-post of my tries yesterday to compare without scrolling everywhere. I did like you said and stayed above the Tone Curve in the palette. No presets, global sliders, etc

[theantiquetiger]

I can't comment further on these images until I see a natural one using only LR and outlined steps.

OK, I went back to the drawing board this afternoon. I stayed away from her face other that whitening the teeth and a little work on the eyes

Steps only in Lightroom. I stayed only in the area of the palette you showed me except for a slight vignette and purple adjustment for the flowers in the dress One thing I did not do in this edit that I did in this mornings edit. I took the Skin Softening brush and "ironed out the dress" around her knees.

- selected WB
- Highlights -55
- Shadows +26
- Whites -2
- Blacks +10
- Clarity -5
- Vibrancy -17
- Saturation +7
- Purple Luminance -100 (to bring out detail in the dress)
- Whiten Teeth/eyes brush
- Sharpen iris brush w/ a light blue +93
- Clone tool around feet
- Crop/Level
- Vignette


mo mo swing2 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

[Marko]

It's looking more natural at each edit. My apologies on the confusion.

Best version so far. It looks quite good on my box. How does it look on your computer? (and is your computer calibrated?)

Something to keep in mind is that all the colours are intimately related. Move 1 colour and you move its opposite as well.

That purple luminance deal - was that a global edit?
I'm guessing yes. It should not have been because the purple is located only in the dress.
Her bow is medium purple now - it was closer to white in the last edit. (isn't that bow white in reality?)

My general workflow is that I use the sliders to get most of the picture (which usually includes my focal point) looking good on a global level.
Then I use the adjustment brushes and hone in on particular areas.

Trying to correct local areas with global edits is a surefire way to make yourself go batty.

[theantiquetiger]

I didn't notice the purpling of the bow. I did do a global color on the purple because I didn't think it affected anything other than the flowers and belt. I can easily lower the lums on the bow. Like I said in my last post, I also used the skin softening brush to "iron" the dress around the knees. I will adjust the bow back to white with the ironed dress and call this on done.

The thing learned most from all those videos last night about portraits, I was going in the complete opposite direction on my clarity, saturation, and vibrance.

I am trying to unlearn the bad habit hat every image needs the clarity and saturation increased. I was destroying the images.


Here it is, closes the book on this chapter


mo mo swing final by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


raw2 jpg by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


morgan new swing by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


morgan swing final by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


step by step morgan by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


mo mo swing by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

[Iguanasan]

Woah! I miss a day or two and all heck breaks loose!

It looks like Marko has this one well in hand with you. That last edit looks very sweet. What a difference in all your different attempts. I guess that's why I don't get into as much trouble as I don't know how to use all that stuff so I'll I ever do is some white balance and contrast adjustment, saturation, and a bit of unsharp mask. If I went through the all those steps I'd get lost.

[Marko]

Last version looks quite good AT. I still think that purple luminance is mucking with the rest of the image though.

I'd try this workflow on the other images in this set at this point, but I would not work on details globally. Details should be controlled with adjustment brush imo.