Need help /opinions

[NaturesPixel]

ok here is the problem i always take the family photos.. Im sick of not getting skin tones correct... i dont have a flash yet besides built-in D80.. and probably wont before the next family dinner... so im practising my PS work on skin .. did i get this right or not???

i think i really need to calibrate this monitor with some sort of machine...lol


so i need your opinions.. Dont worry abt his Tshirt or the middle crop... this was a muck around shot

[ELAY]

I'm a terrible judge -- I can only spot colour casts after somebody else points them out -- and I suspect my monitor is a bit green (I also need a calibration tool) so I don't think I can help with the shot (though it looks good to me, if a touch on the pale side), but I do use some techniques that I found at SmugMug to try to get prints looking right.

I think you posted in a thread I started linking to one of the SmugMug pages, but I'll give you a link anyway -- here. There is also a fair amount of other material there dealing with skin tones -- look under the Print section in their Help pages.

EL

[wulf]

It is hard to say without seeing the subject in the flesh. I've seen people with that skin tone (at least, the pale skin that comes out on my monitor) but would expect something a little more robust on a kid unless he never gets to play outside.

Attached is a subtley adjusted version - perhaps a minute or so spent playing round with the curves tool, primarily boosting the red and dropping the blue (ie. increasing the yellow). I don't know whether it looks much more realistic but it is a bit warmer.

Also, as you practise and prepare, remember the effect the setting of the photos will have on the outcome - here the white reflection from the shirt is quite prominent round the lower side of the face, making the overall result more pale and blue than a different choice, like red or yellow, would have done.

Wulf

[Damo]

I have to say the whole picture looks over bright for me, I think I'd tone the gamma down a bit and give it a warmer tone like Wulf has done to give it a more natural colour. The problem is, I use a laptop, and as most of you will know, how far you tip the screen back and forth has a massive effect on how light or dark pictures are so it maybe I'm not seeing it correctly anyway. Like you I need to set a position to use all the time and use some kind of machine to set the colours and brightness properly. Great sharp shot though and a cute kid

[NaturesPixel]

yep see that's my problem im on a laptop.. and i don't always have the screen in the same pos all the time either...

wulf thanks i like your version better.. ill give this another go while im waiting for news on hubby hes in emerg with smashed hand between 2 cars...lol

[Damo]

Originally Posted by NaturesPixel

yep see that's my problem im on a laptop.. and i don't always have the screen in the same pos all the time either...

wulf thanks i like your version better.. ill give this another go while im waiting for news on hubby hes in emerg with smashed hand between 2 cars...lol

Oh thats cruel laughing at him !

[Nicole]

Yep, I agree, I think that wulf's version has better skin tones. I think that the skin looked too cool on my monitor in the original shot.

Originally Posted by NaturesPixel

yep see that's my problem im on a laptop.. and i don't always have the screen in the same pos all the time either...
.. ill give this another go while im waiting for news on hubby hes in emerg with smashed hand between 2 cars...lol

Ouch! Hope hubby is ok, that sounds really painful

[Saralonde]

I can never trust the monitor on my laptop, but I think Wulf's version hits the mark. BTW, his eyes are terrific.
Hope your DH is ok.

[NaturesPixel]

here is another i did.. shot inside with built in flash



and thanks abt DH he is home and no broken bones.. no idea why tho, he is very lucky but purple and swollen and very sore ^.^

[oriolhdz]

Hi NaturesPixel:
I made some color correction using curves and threshold to locate black/whites.
Hope you like it. He seems a little shy. Is he?