First try at PP - too dark still?

[florenceinitaly]

Hi all,

Since getting my dSLR, this is the first time I try to make a picture better through PP using the RAW file - any thoughts? A friend of mine said the cherries still looked too dark, but I'm not sure i can make them look any brighter without having it look over saturated.

1) Original

2) Edited

I was afraid the picture would start looking over processed if I try any harder - thoughts?

 

[Goontz]

Did you also add the vignetting? They're still a little dark, but much better. I find the vignetting much too heavy and distracting. In the future, you could spot-meter on the cherries for a better outcome.

 

[florenceinitaly]

yes the vignetting was added in PP, I've never used that before and it looked cool to me so I might have turned it up a notch too high LOL - but you're right it does lead to a bit of distraction.

I also tried to use a healing brush on the blurred black stuff in the background from the original - the traces of it still looks really obvious to me, and I don't know how to remove that seamlessly.

 

[johnj2803]

same here, lessen the vignetting and I think it will look better

 

[florenceinitaly]

Thanks, I lessened the vignetting, better?

Any other notes?

 

[R6_Dude]

Looks good, but I think it'll look better if both branch of cherries were in focus. The back one seems a bit out of focus.

Otherwise, good PP.

 

[florenceinitaly]

Thanks - I also thought if I had composed the pictures with the two branches of berries distinctly apart from one another (rather than having a slight over lap in the middle) it might look less cluttered?

Can't fix that in PP though!

 

[johnj2803]

Thanks, I lessened the vignetting, better?

Any other notes?

still too much for my taste, but its up to you