Attempted sunburst

EDIT: Replaced the picture with a new version based on Tim's feedback ... darkened the guage a bit to match the body ...

If you try the same modifications on a duplicate layer, then add a black layer mask and then paint in just the bits you want to change with a fine white paintbrush in Photoshop, you get the advantage of local changes, leaving the good bits of the image unchanged.

If you keep a version with un-flattened layers, then you can go on tweaking without having to go back to the original each time.

I have to admit that I was very uncertain of this until inspired by Jack & Sue Drafahl's book, and now I'm a big enthusiast for non-destructive editing.

Makes up for not having a D700...

Tim

B)

That's basically what I did here ... and do in general.

From Lightroom, I create a 16-bit TIFF copy of the RAW file with the Lightroom adjustments carried over which is simultaneously opened in Photoshop CS3 and imported into Lightroom as the #2 record in a 'stack' with the original RAW file.

In this case ... in Photoshop, I used the 'magnetic lasso' to select the diver and created a new layer via copying the feathered select. I used a simple 'level' adjustment on the select layer and tweaked the opacity of the layer until it looked right.

I have the TIFF saved with all the photoshop adjustments available as layers to return to again later. I also have a snapshot of the RAW saved that represents the original output to Photoshop. Those TIFFs start to get big. At a certain point I smash them down to a single layer and save as a "digital print".