Is her skin yellow?

[ttosifa]

Originally Posted by mandyatm

This picture is just of my daughter, but am going to take some engagement and maternity sessions for friends next month and would like my color to be correct.

I would argue that the color in the original photo was more or less correct. I would say that the method of lighting your daughter wasn't to your liking. (I hope I am not coming across as a jerk, because I don't mean to be.) I used to do a lot of color correction and hated it. I haven't done it in a long time (except for very minor tweaks). Thinking about it, I realized that I have taken more control over the lighting (it takes time to learn), and it saves a LOT of time and frustration.

If you take natural light pictures with the sun at the angle it is in this picture, much of the face is going to be lit with reflected light. You wouldn't choose to use a yellow-green reflector, but that's effectively what you have here (the bushes). I know it's hard to do with young kids, but you can reduce the cast issue by getting a white reflector and putting it between her and the bushes.

Or if you know you are going to have lighting of mixed colors, decide which source(s) you want to "correct" and do a custom white balance. The other light sources will be "off-color", but that's the price.

And the pink hat acts as a filter here. Nothing to do but take it off. I'm glad you didn't though because it really adds to the picture!

Oh, and please don't do the eye pop thing. That looks spooky! (sorry...)

Again, she is a cute girl and I think this is a nice picture. They grow up so fast. Take lots of pictures!

[mandyatm]

Thanks! She is crawling now and interested in everything (except my camera of course), so she is usually trying to crawl towards me or picking stuff up off the ground. It was really overcast outside, which is the reason I took her because when it is bright outside she won't look up (one reason for the hat). I totally understand the bushes reflecting light now. Surrounding her with green wasn't the best idea! I actually have a white reflector, i don't know why it didn't occur to me to take it. That is why I need this forum!

I made a couple more small tweaks and I think it looks good now. I didn't do the eye pop thing. I appreciate the artistic point of view, but this is my baby so I want to remember her eyes like they naturally are! I only sharpened them a little in the original edit. Thanks for all the great suggestions!

[modgers]

I think that the pic looks good as is. I find when shooting babies their skin can be little more yellow or sometimes red than a normal caucasian skin. I think it looks good though

[AlphaBjerke]

Don't waste your money on the calibration kit! It assumes that you have all sorts of adjustments that can be made on your monitor, but as far as I have seen, that is not the case on a laptop--any laptop. You have to be able to adjust the contrast and brightness independently. If you have XP on that laptop, there is a contrast adjustment, but not the right one. Unless someone has figured out something that I haven't (a definite possibility), you won't be able to do what the calibration kit asks you to do.

[mandyatm]

Oh ok, thanks for that! I guess I am stuck with it for now. I want to get a mac desktop, but it will be a little while. I ordered some pictures from MPix and I will see how they turn out.

[cherrygirl]

I just wanna say that baby is so darn cute!