Question about LR edit..

MommyOf4 · Jan 12, 2012

Hello again! Ok, so as of right now I do all my editing in LR3 I do want to get into CS5 in the very near future but, for right now I know LR and thats where I do my edits. I took this picture of my daughter today and under her eyes on the inner corners were some pretty horrific black shadows. It took me hours to edit them out in LR because there really is no clean way to edit them out. The clone tool looked awful so I ended up just going over them a few times with the adjustment brush. The result was just OK it definitely is far from perfect and I'm pretty sure would look bad if it were an enlarged print. Is there a trick I dont know to doing something like this in LR? I know its things like this that CS5 is really great with... Here is the pic, you can definitely see what I'm talking about on the inner corners under her eyes. (and pay no mind to the 1600 ISO that was NOT needed! stupidity on my part)

IMG_3960 by MariaBerio, on Flickr

MLeeK · Jan 12, 2012

Just make sure you are blowing it up to 100% when you are using the clone or adjustment and you will be able to print large. It looks fine here, but it could be horrific at 100%.

Adobe Camera Raw in CS5 is the exact same editing as you are using in LR3. It's laid out differently, but the same sliders doing the same thing. It won't be a horrible change for you!

MommyOf4 · Jan 12, 2012

Thanks! I wont lie CS5 intimidates me LOL I just really hate the clone tool is LR for some reason.

MLeeK · Jan 12, 2012

It's not the best cloning tool out. In PS you can make a new layer and clone away, then erase or mask back as needed. Definitely makes it easier to clone better when you can work in layers!
Have you tried out the beta of LR4 yet? I just downloaded it. I'm going to play with this weekends shots in it.

GeorgieGirl · Jan 12, 2012

Blow it up in LR...select the Adjustment Brush (in the same area as the crop function) and choose Dodge (Lighten)...apply the brush to the undereye area of each eye to lighten....see how that goes...These are selective adjustments so if you need more lighten then go back to the brush adj and then click on the circle at the eye you worked on and then adjust the sliders to get it lighter...

MommyOf4 · Jan 12, 2012

GorgieGirl thats what I ended up doing! Took me a long time to figure it out though lol. MLeeK, I havn't yet downloaded it but, I did watch a video on what they added and it looks like they added some really nice features. I'm excited to try it