Critique of Before/After of DS

[WenRob]

To start, I'm very, very nervous, this is my first post here. I started shooting RAW right before the holidays and am using LR2. My confidence in PP is lacking so in general I'd like feed back on what I could do better and what I could pull back on. I am always leery of over processing so I wonder sometimes if I do enough. Specifically: I'd like to know if my sharpening is too much or too little what could I do to make it better? When I convert to jpg it seems to introduce "digital softness" so I then try to compensate by doing a defog but then wonder if it's to stark. Also should I dodge his eyes? Selectively sharpen them? I'm open to any and all suggestions. Feel free to edit and repost!

My EXIF:
Camera: Nikon D90
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 105 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Return detected
The original SOOC:


Processed:

I brought it up just a smidge, increased the blacks, adjusted contrast, sharpened and masked at about 88%, upped the vibrancy to +21. After converting I applied a defog of R25,A15,T5 and lowered the opacity.
lrg version on smugmug which I think looks a lot better then the Flkr. Maybe I'm just looking at them too much:
http://wenrob.smugmug.com/photos/476230905_PZAsg-L.jpg

[lputman]

I really like what you've done. If anything, the loss of detail on the shirt is my only nit.

[WenRob]

Originally Posted by lputman

I really like what you've done. If anything, the loss of detail on the shirt is my only nit.

Do you think increasing the blacks is what caused me to lose the detail? Or the masking when sharpening? I get so focused on the face and eyes I forget about the rest of the picture.

[lputman]

Both would contribute. Personally, if I am going to defog, I do a light defog first with the values of 14,40,0.

[WenRob]

Originally Posted by lputman

Both would contribute. Personally, if I am going to defog, I do a light defog first with the values of 14,40,0.

My problem is that I use PSP and LR2. As far as I can tell you can't sharpen more then once in LR. PSP doesn't read the NEFs from the D90 so I have to convert to jpg to get it in there so I can't do the defog, know what I mean? I've been trying to figure out a way around this but so far I've got nothin,' lol. I think I may try the trial of NIK Pro sharpener but I think DH would kill me if I bought more software!

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and help.