My first PPing in Lightroom

[laurontario]

Hi, there,

I am new to digital photography (not to photography, though), so, please, be patient with me

Last year in August my wife and I went for a hot air balloon ride. It was a spectacular experience that I will never hesitate to recommend or repeat.

I have a few shots from that event here.

All pictures were taken as raw as well as jpeg. I was not very happy with the original jpeg's, which were lacking contrast and saturation.
Yesterday I installed the trial version of Lightroom and processed my first file.

This is the original:


And this is the post-processed version:


All comments are much appreciated.

Thanks,
Laurentiu

[wulf]

How did you get from (a) to (b)?

Wulf

ps. I've moved this out the processed pictures critique section as that specifies only ONE image.

[Jim Poor]

I prefer version A to version B and I generaly like more saturation than most. B is definitely oversatureated though. Especially the reds, which can be very tough for a digital sensor in the first place.

I think somewhere between A & B there is a better result.

[Drax]

Hi, laurontario!

Some how, i prefer the original pict. As said by Jim, the 2nd is some how over saturated!

I suggest that you start again and try to tweak the the original by playing with the Contrast, and Levels.

The tools called "Clarity and Vibrance" in Lightroom also work wonders if not used in excess.

Cheers!!!

[tjphoto]

I agree with everyone's comments for normal photography, but the second on is near to fake that you could use it in some great graphic design,I wouldn't write it off just yet! I could see it on a product add?
PROZAC high in the sky (or something)

[laurontario]

Hello,

Thanks all for your comments.

How I did it... tough question - did I mention this was my first attempt? :-D

I liked the opinion about the ad for Prozac!

Well, honestly now, I played a bit (too much...) with the sliders, mainly by increasing saturation. I also tried to adjust the blacks, because I had the feeling that those black patches were more towards grey. After that, I did some sharpening because, again, I had the feeling that the original image was not crisp enough.

Now, looking at it again I realize that I probably over-did it - I definitively don't want my images to look like Ken Rockwell's (I don't want to open a can of worms now, it is just an honest opinion, I think that all his images are way over-saturated).

So, for now, back to the drawing board. I need more time to practise

Thanks again for your time,

Laurentiu

[Snowdust]

Unless you cleared your history in LR for your edits, you can see what each setting was.