Friday, May 8, 2009

I heart faces constructive feedback Friday

It is constructive feedback friday at iheartfaces. I shot these pictures of my boys with spring flowers. I first ran it through Noiseware. I did my edit in PSE. I ran Digital Photography for Moms's Defog action. I then ran Coffeeshop Perfect Portrait action. The skin tones in this picture kinda bug me. There is alot of pink in my older son's face and my baby's face seems a bit yellow/orange. I just wanted to know if there was anything else I could do to fix it.


SOOC


EXIF info
Nikon D40X
f 2.8
ss 1/320
iso 200
28 mm
meter mode pattern
Posted by at

5 comments:

  1. DrewMay 8, 2009 at 12:59 PM

    Hi, Mandi! I'll be checking out your photo late tonight or tomorrow. (It's my son's birthday today). My first impression tells me that you did a beautiful job editing this picture and that the skin tone issue will be pretty easy to fix. I look forward to giving some feedback later. :)

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  2. AJMay 8, 2009 at 7:42 PM

    I like your crop!

    You might try selecting each face and making hue/saturation adjustments. That is take the yellow out of one and the red out of the other. I tried and it didn't seem to be working for me though. I may just be tired, LOL.

    I like the background and their expressions :).

    HTH!
    AJ

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  3. DrewMay 8, 2009 at 9:32 PM

    I finally got a chance to work with this photo. I love the changes you already made. Looks like we pull out the same arsenal of Coffeeshop actions. :) That defog action is a new favorite of mine too.

    What I did was open your adjusted photo with the Raw editor. My guess is that your white balance may have been a tad off. I switched the white balance to auto and then made some slight adjustments with the different sliders.

    I then opened up the photo with Elements. I duplicated the photo into a new layer. I then used a hue adjustment layer, chose the red channel only and then clicked on the reddest part of the face with the dropper tool. I then took the -dropper tool and clicked on the most natural skin tone on the face. I then slid the hue adjustment and lightener until it was more to my liking. I then did the a new hue adjustment, but this time with the yellow channel. The reason I duplicated the layer is because whenever you play with a hue adjustment, it's adjusting the hue everywhere. When I did the hue adjustments, the flower got very drab.

    To fix this, I took the adjusted layer and switched places with the original layer. (The original layer was now on the top and highlighted.) I used one of Rita's free Coffeeshop Layer mask actions. I took a black brush and painted over the skin only on the picture. This brought the toned down skin color from the bottom layer into the top layer. One thing I have learned is to steer clear of the lips. They need the red tones. If you think the lips end up looking too red, then reduce the opacity on your brush way down and then paint on the lips. (With a layer mask, if you make a mistake, switch the brush color to white and paint over the mistake. It will return the painted areas back to the original color.)

    I'm thinking these changes gave the more natural skin tone you were hoping for. I posted the adjusted photo at: http://rileytutorial.blogspot.com/2009/05/fix-it.html

    Thanks for submitting such a fun photo. It is such a well-taken photo and full of personality that it's totally worth the effort to fix. Take care!

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  4. HeasleyeMay 9, 2009 at 2:07 PM

    Love the expressions you captured here! I agree with Drew that the white balance was probably not ideal for this shot, and maybe it was a touch underexposed as well. Sometimes, by clicking around in the picture with the levels droppers (especially the white or gray ones), you can find a more pleasing overall white balance. Especially when shooting jpeg, it's great to be extra aware of those white balance settings on your camera. Learning to set a custom white balance can be a real life saver as well. :) Happy Clicking with those super cute boys!

    Elaine

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  5. MandiMay 9, 2009 at 9:51 PM

    Thank you so much for all your helpful comments. It is always nice to have an unbiased eye!

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