I want more pop.

Hi All,

My only PP software is DPP and LR4. 99% of use is with lightroom. Which I must add my proficiency is not right up there.
Below is an image I took last weekend that I'm trying to make pop a little more. I feel she should be able to jump out more. It looks a bit flat to me.
I've tried a variety of slider actions and just can't seem to get her to 'sparkle'. Am I fighting a battle due to the lighting. It was a bright sunny day but as I took this a good size cloud passed over, great for no harsh shadows, but has it flattened it too much that I can't get the pop I'm after.

Thanks for any feedback.

Well it's a great picture to start off with so that's good, play around with the tone curb.

swoffa wrote in post #15763631
Hi All,

My only PP software is DPP and LR4. 99% of use is with lightroom. Which I must add my proficiency is not right up there.
Below is an image I took last weekend that I'm trying to make pop a little more. I feel she should be able to jump out more. It looks a bit flat to me.
I've tried a variety of slider actions and just can't seem to get her to 'sparkle'. Am I fighting a battle due to the lighting. It was a bright sunny day but as I took this a good size cloud passed over, great for no harsh shadows, but has it flattened it too much that I can't get the pop I'm after.

Thanks for any feedback.

Did you try increasing clarity?

Can we edit your pic? You haven't said thats ok.

Thanks guys,
I think I did try clarity and it made her look a bit weird. Never been able to work curves well, there's something I'm missing in how it should be applied. I'll give them both a go again tonight and see what I can get.

Most certainly you can edit the pic. I'll have a hunt around to turn that on. (I thought it already was on).

Here's my take on it by just using the tone curb:

http://img713.imagesha​ck.us/img713/2307/lred​it.png

I think the pic is pretty good as is, but my take:

Have a look at this video from Scott Kelby and look at it starting at 08.00
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=LIt1cDw5lLI

He give's a simple trick to make photo's/persons 'pop out'. He is using Photoshop but I'm sure you can do this using Lightroom.

I would apply sharpening and clarity only to the person and desaturate the background a bit and see if that helps. how sure how much more 'POP' you are going to get though.

Maybe also burn down the background highlights and clone out the small bit of sky in the top right out.

The OP has said "My only PP software is DPP and LR4", so one thing that could help is, for example, giving some helpful tips using the LR4 local adjustment brushes, or, yb98, if you see this, does DPP++ have good tools for some of the "selective" edits people are suggesting?

For those suggesting "Photoshop" edits, you might want to clarify that your edits can only be done in an "image editor", in which case the OP would need to explore maybe Photoshop Elements or another affordable alternative! I always advise folks to at least get Elements alongside of a Raw processor (Lightroom/DPP) but many folks "miss" that bit of wisdom!

Good point Tony,

On my edit I increased saturation on individual colors trying to avoid the model's skin. Vibrance seemed to have too much impact on skin tones. I added a mild vignette and burned the subject's tan lines, all done in LR4....

Stone 13 wrote in post #15766467
Good point Tony,

On my edit I increased saturation on individual colors trying to avoid the model's skin. Vibrance seemed to have too much impact on skin tones. I added a mild vignette and burned the subject's tan lines, all done in LR4....

Hey, thanks, valuable info!

It's a very nice picture and she is very pretty. But that's a lot of green. The green in the foreground and in the background seems to be defusing a lot of the vibrance in the model.

I saved your photo to my desktop and cropped a third from the right and up to the ribbon from the bottom and the true vibrance of the model was changed.

Just a thought.

Good point Tony about the OP's software. This was done completely in ACR with the following settings:

Basic Tab - Exposure -0.15, Highlights -45, Whites +15
Tone Curve Tab - Parmetric - Highlights +1, Lights +6, Darks -3, Shadows -10
Detail Tab - Sharpening - Amount 35, Radius 0.6, Detail 50, Masking 90
Split Toning Tab - Shadows - Hue 65, Saturation 10
Effects Tab - Post Crop Vignetting - Highlight Priority - Amount -20, Midpoint 35, Roundness +50, Feather 50
Adjustment Brush -Lady - Exposure +0.30, Highlights -30, Shadows -5, Saturation -8
Adjustment Brush - Flowers - Contrast +18, Highlights -23, Clarity +10, Saturation +25

I don't have LR but should be able to accomplish the same using LR.

Thanks, Dennis, and sure, you can get exactly the same results in LR as you do in ACR!