Playing with PSP X6 Ultimate

[Tadjio]

This evening I was playing with PSP X6 Ultimate and in particular the new tools and features.
I worked with two photos taken on holiday in Greece recently - both night portraits taken after a lot of sun, heat and Ouzo.
First of all I applied the Perfectly Clear plug-in, setting it for Portrait defaults and Night Scene Noise Reduction after which I adjusted the settings and saved the resultant Preset.
I couldn't achieve as good a result the 'old-fashioned' way

When I showed the results to my wife, she commented that she preferred the composition of the first but her looks in the second.

So, I took the Auto Selection to roughly outline her head but some parts were excluded, so I then used the Smart Selection Brush (in Add Mode) to include the remainder.
It was then very easy to Copy the Selection and Paste As a Transparent Selection into the better composed photo. Finally I used the Move Tool to align her necklace...

I think this is a great example of the use of the new features but I'm afraid my wife won't let me show you the result

[photodrawken]

I couldn't achieve as good a result the 'old-fashioned' way

I agree. At first, I didn't think the Perfectly Clear plugin was worth anything (and said so), but I've since changed my mind. Although it does duplicate the adjustments already available in PSP, it's nice to have them in one place. I also like the fact that it's initial default adjustments are fairly subtle, allowing a nice range for tweaking. All-in-all, it does make things significantly easier.

Here's a sample of what I got, with an inset showing the original image. (Not my wife, but, hey, I can dream.... ):

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[Tadjio]

Thanks for your support.
That's a great example with the pair side-by-side holding up well
I must try PC with a choice selection...

[photodrawken]

I must try PC with a choice selection...

Good point! I hadn't thought of that, and I just tested it -- the good news is that it does only affect the selected area, the bad news is that the image in the PC preview area is badly distorted.