Christmas Tea Before & After

[JohnB]

I promised I'd write up a before & after, so here goes. Here's the final image:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2687/4162220642_6b00dd0953.jpg (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2687/4162220642_1f95486b0b_o.jpg)

Here's the before:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/4166346958_3968741601.jpg (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/4166346958_0a68a5cde4_o.jpg)

Some of the obvious things I did were adjust the white balance and brightness as well as straightening the image out. I could have done a little better straightening the photo, though. I added a vignette and I also used a technique for drawing attention to the subject that I learned in the following Lightroom Killer Tip:

http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/2009 ... ily-photo/ (http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/2009/video-before-after-family-photo/)

The guy flies through a bunch of things, all good tips I think, but the one that stood out was using the Brush tool in Lightroom to darken the whole image and erasing the effect on the areas you want to highlight.

I also added a bit of magenta to the background.

I usually don't spend more than 5 or 10 minutes on a photo and rarely ever go out to Photoshop. This one is no exception!

[Steve Paxton]

Lovely work John. Thanks for sharing.

[Taallyn]

Nicely done. I like Matt K.'s tips too.

[Chris-T-Photography]

I really like the composition. Really draws your focus to the cup and still leaves enough space to allow your eye to look around some. You take amazing Christmas pictures.