Pretty-in-Pink II

[drg]

I've been playing in ADOBE Lightroom 2.0. Everything you see here as editing and alteration was accomplished with the new tools available in LR 2.0.

Do you like the 'effect' of the high key vignette? Is it too much considereing that this is a portrait made from essentially a snapshot?

The image is refined slightly from the one I used for the LR 2.0 review. An earlier version of this edit can be seen at:
http://gallery.photographyreview.com...&ppuser=239453

Any and all comments welcome and I'm working on some additional tips for Lightroom 2.0 to be in the Software forum.

[Frog]

I'm not much on high key but this seems pretty good to me.
I like the sharp eyes.

[drg]

Thanks Frog for taking a moment to look and comment.

Did you compare the before and after?

[GB1]

Hmm. The kid's expression is really nice, but personally I think that the pink may be too extreme. They say to lean towards the warm tones in portraiture and model photography, but this is probably just a case of too much of a good thing.

-GB

[JTcooper]

well drg, shot looks good my friend but I thinks she got a bad sun burn buddy:thumbsup:

[Greg McCary]

I like the technique and think the parents would be thrilled.

[r_w]

I like it. I tend to like blown out backgrounds, and sharp eyes. FWIW from a novice....

[jgredline]

I think it is amazing what you did with the image. Goodness, the before and after is nothing short of majic. I do think it is a little on the pink side. Would love to see it with a little of the pink taken out..

On a side note, would you say it is worth upgrading from version 1.4?

[gahspidy]

drg, I too am having a delight with the selective editing tools in LR2 not to mention all the other little goodies in the upgrade. Too bad I need to upgrade to CS3 to benefit from the tighter integration between PS and LR.
I like what you have done, for the most part but I am in the group that feels she may be too far on the pink side. Also, the high key bg vignette is a nice effect for this portrait but I feel maybe too much at the top where her head gets lost in the blowout.
From the perspective of a comparison between the original shot and what was achieved in LR2, it is quite good and begins to show the possibilities and potential there with this program.
btw, does your machine slow down any while doing selective editing? Mine usually does not, but sometimes it may lag a bit if I'm doing alot of selective passes with a large brush. I need to wait for it to catch up, but this is not always the case and for the most part I have no issues in that regard. There is alot of buzz around the LR forums about lag and crash/freexe up issues so I'm guessing there may be a 2.1 out in the near future.
Good work, and great review

[drg]

Sunburned definitely! It was a 100% overcast day but very bright.

The pink shirt she was wearing plus the side effects of the processing did lead this I also felt to border on being perhaps too pink. But it is a little girl after all. Not necessarily going for realism It printed fairly well on both an Epson (Ultra-Chrome ink) and on RA paper straight from Lightroom.

Thanks for looking and any all other comments are still welcomed!

[drg]

drg, I too am having a delight with the selective editing tools in LR2 not to mention all the other little goodies in the upgrade. Too bad I need to upgrade to CS3 to benefit from the tighter integration between PS and LR.
I like what you have done, for the most part but I am in the group that feels she may be too far on the pink side. Also, the high key bg vignette is a nice effect for this portrait but I feel maybe too much at the top where her head gets lost in the blowout.
From the perspective of a comparison between the original shot and what was achieved in LR2, it is quite good and begins to show the possibilities and potential there with this program.
btw, does your machine slow down any while doing selective editing? Mine usually does not, but sometimes it may lag a bit if I'm doing alot of selective passes with a large brush. I need to wait for it to catch up, but this is not always the case and for the most part I have no issues in that regard. There is alot of buzz around the LR forums about lag and crash/freexe up issues so I'm guessing there may be a 2.1 out in the near future.
Good work, and great review

Gary,

The blowout I played with in some other versions and just didn't get the right outcome only using LR. In time and with practice I believe there's enough adjustment range with 2.0 to make this work better. I even added more vignette in some versions and still . . .
Well practice practice practice. I've had quite a bit since this and there's a few other pics w.vignettes I'm considering posting later.

Different hardware seems to currently work at varying efficiencies with this new version. I've only had one crash and that was on a Celeron Desktop. And this was after much editing. It didn't crash the machine, the program just stopped responding. Didn't lose any work! That is one major benefit of Databased changes, the changes remain and you can return to them later.

I was editing back and forth between several virtual copies of two different photographs when the lock up happened. I've done similar since and haven't been able to repeat the problem!

Gary I always appreciate your feedback and am glad you enjoyed the review.