For week 29 of the After Before Forum, I decided to go with a picture of shiny baubles I found at the mall. Though I thought they were pretty without editing, I wanted to add a bit more color and magic. Not sure if I accomplished that, but here were the results of my efforts.
To get this, I took the following steps in Photoshop CS5:
- Made one layer that had the HDR effect on it.
- Turned down the details, curves, shadows and highlights.
- Bumped up the saturation and strength.
- Erased out the main large dangling crystal and a few of the surrounding globes.
- Put the original layer of the photo behind the HDR layer.
- Bumped up the saturation and unsharp mask.
- Merged the two layers and adjusted the brightness and contrast some.
Which photo do you prefer? The original or the edited?
To join the fun, check out Stacy’s page, Visual Venturing. The guidelines to the After Before Forum can be found here as well.
Michelle Lunato Photography 
Most people seemed to be more diplomatic than me. I was trying to decide how to say I liked the original better without hurting your feelings but others seem not to have that problem. They know exactly what to say and how to say it. I miss the crispness of the original but think you do need a hint of the purple color, so definitely a merge of the two would please me. And I know that is uppermost in your mind, to please me. 🙂
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Lol, I actually like the comments. It’s the only way to really learn – get feedback. And, the true mark of success would be figuring out what pleases people, especially those named Emilio:)
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Shoot, don’t worry about pleasing me. My wife doesn’t! But I agree with you. I think people are hesitant to say what they don’t like so they don’t say anything. I have continually hinted- none too subtly- that I want the good as well as the bad.So far there are only about three people who will give me an honest assessment of my work. One is Ben, who often contributes to ABF and I have grown to appreciate his knowledge.
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Lol, well us women can’t be pleasing all the time. If we were, the nice times would not be so appreciated. Ben has given me some great tips too! I say critical comments can only help. No sense in being all overly sensitive.
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Exactly! Have a great holiday. See you in two weeks!
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You too!
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I too liked the brightness of the original but the colors of the edited… what do you think about a crop where your focus is on the diamond shaped bauble… right now my eye goes to those round ones just out of focus on the left … but I want to look at the crisp diamond-shaped one on the right. 🙂
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I will have to play with a cropping edit! Great idea:)
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I had to look hard and long at both images, but I am still on the fence. I like both versions, there is the crispness in the before image, but also a hint of color in the after image. I don’t know, is it wrong to say I love them both? 😀
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I loved them both! 🙂
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Michelle, I really like the colors and dreamy atmosphere of the second 🙂 And I enjoyed the story about your son too – you know you’ve arrived when your teen says “cool.” Way to go 😉 Thanks for being part of ABFriday!
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I like the colour in the edited image but I also like the brightness of the original. I would possibly merge the two together and have the best of both worlds.
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I vote for the edited version. The hints of color add a lot. Nice work.
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Thanks:)
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