here is my try at duplicating what portrait professional does.

[Hannah2]

what do ya'll think?
before

comparison by kyle.emley, on Flickr
after

tone and skin smoothing experiment by kyle.emley, on Flickr

here's my 5 minute edit in LR3.....


5229844535_6aab967cf6_z-2 by Matt Francosky, on Flickr




p!nK

WOW! I have Photoshop CS4. I don't have LR and am not familiar with it. Is the LR edit that you did a one-action kind of thing, or did you choose and apply various filters, similar to what you would do in PS? I guess I'm trying to decide if I need to look at getting LR, if I'll mostly be doing portraits!

Sorry for the hijack. Super cute kid, BTW!

 

[point-&-shoot]

one more try

still trying by kyle.emley, on Flickr

 

[point-&-shoot]

WOW! I have Photoshop CS4. I don't have LR and am not familiar with it. Is the LR edit that you did a one-action kind of thing, or did you choose and apply various filters, similar to what you would do in PS? I guess I'm trying to decide if I need to look at getting LR, if I'll mostly be doing portraits!

Sorry for the hijack. Super cute kid, BTW!

im wondering the same thing. your 5 mins in lr3 beats my 20 or so in cs3.

 

[vtf]

The extreme use of programs like this.
://ameliaalisoun.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/249/

 

[doziergraphic]

a baby/child already has smooth skin, why would you try to smooth it more? you need to take a picture of the wifey or grandma - THEN you would have something to work with and compare your skills to. The two baby pics look exactly the same to me.

 

[oldmacman]

Well, I'll throw in my take. Can't resist a good re-edit party.

Not to disparage LR3 (because I own it and use it), but this edit was done in CS5.

 

[Robin Usagani]

here is mine

 

[mrpink]

After looking at some of the other edits I will say this... when the lighting in a photo is as flat as it is in this one, skin softening does little to improve the look, if anything, it makes it look flatter.

In my edit, the main thing I did was adjust the WB to warm the photo up- yes, maybe too much but that is what the photo needed IMHO. I did soften the skin a very small amount, it did not need much at all. I also blurred the background because it was competing with the subject.





p!nK

 

[lyonsroar]

WOW! I have Photoshop CS4. I don't have LR and am not familiar with it. Is the LR edit that you did a one-action kind of thing, or did you choose and apply various filters, similar to what you would do in PS? I guess I'm trying to decide if I need to look at getting LR, if I'll mostly be doing portraits!

Sorry for the hijack. Super cute kid, BTW!

I use LR most often for adjusting WB, sharpening, clarity, vibrance, etc on the photos I shoot in RAW. I find that the results from LR look more polished than just out of PS (I also have CS4.) I usually import my photos into LR, adjust what's necessary, export them, and reopen in CS4 for removing imperfections, etc.

I just acquired LR like two weeks ago so I'm still learning all that it can do. It has tons of presets that do crazy things to your photos, I haven't even begun to try them all!
:blushing:

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

WOW! I have Photoshop CS4. I don't have LR and am not familiar with it. Is the LR edit that you did a one-action kind of thing, or did you choose and apply various filters, similar to what you would do in PS? I guess I'm trying to decide if I need to look at getting LR, if I'll mostly be doing portraits!

Sorry for the hijack. Super cute kid, BTW!

You could download the 30 day trial of LR and see what it does first hand. :thumbup:

 

[Hannah2]

a baby/child already has smooth skin, why would you try to smooth it more?

I realize this thread is about skin smoothing, and I agree the baby's skin doesn't need smoothing.

But in the first edit, it's the
- sharpening of the eyes (showing the catch light better),
- blurring of the background (there's a bit of a line especially around the shoulders that could be corrected in a more time-consuming edit, if I were attempting this in PS),
- and warming of the skin tones
that makes the revision so cool.

I can't say I'm great at using filters in PS. I could do all of this, but it would take time, and the results would be hit and miss.

I was wondering if there are one-step options in LR that make this edit much easier than in would be in PS.

 

[mrpink]

a baby/child already has smooth skin, why would you try to smooth it more?

I realize this thread is about skin smoothing, and I agree the baby's skin doesn't need smoothing.

But in the first edit, it's the
- sharpening of the eyes (showing the catch light better),
- blurring of the background (there's a bit of a line especially around the shoulders that could be corrected in a more time-consuming edit, if I were attempting this in PS),
- and warming of the skin tones
that makes the revision so cool.

I can't say I'm great at using filters in PS. I could do all of this, but it would take time, and the results would be hit and miss.

I was wondering if there are one-step options in LR that make this edit much easier than in would be in PS.

Yes, if I was working with a full size RAW file, with the intent on print- the edit would be MUCH more polished.

In LR, you can make your own presets which would give you the "one step" edit you are looking for.

As for smoothing a childs skin. For this photo, I did it more for noise reduction than to hide imperfections.

Getting the lighting right when shooting makes editing a breeze, but all photo's need some degree of post work.





p!nK

 

[Hannah2]

In my edit, the main thing I did was adjust the WB to warm the photo up

Sorry, cross-posted with you. I like several of the other edits, too, but the warming was needed. And yeah, I know this was a quick edit on a low-res copy - still pretty cool, though!

I use LR most often for adjusting WB, sharpening, clarity, vibrance, etc on the photos I shoot in RAW. I find that the results from LR look more polished than just out of PS (I also have CS4.) I usually import my photos into LR, adjust what's necessary, export them, and reopen in CS4 for removing imperfections, etc.

I just acquired LR like two weeks ago so I'm still learning all that it can do. It has tons of presets that do crazy things to your photos, I haven't even begun to try them all!

Thanks, this is extremely helpful!

You could download the 30 day trial of LR and see what it does first hand. :thumbup:

I'll go give it a shot. My husband is going to *love* that I joined this forum - my wish list has tripled in the last 12 hours! LOL!

 

[MohaimenK]

Sometimes you can make the most unintentional photos into something you wouldn't expect. This is what a friend does. She's really great at what she does and she's shared a few tips with me which I am going to keep hush hush. But here's an example

 

[mrpink]

Sometimes you can make the most unintentional photos into something you wouldn't expect. This is what a friend does. She's really great at what she does and she's shared a few tips with me which I am going to keep hush hush. But here's an example

That photo could be redone (not overdone) in about 10-15mins using CS5 and Powder Room (free for download) script.







p!nK