Is her skin yellow?

[mandyatm]

I really need to get my monitor calibrated. Sometimes my pics look a little yellow when printed. I can't tell if her skin is kinda yellow here? Thanks for the help, any other comments welcome.


50mm
f/2.5
1/320 sec
ISO 200

[irishmuth]

I don't think so. Although now that I know I'm suppose to be looking for it, I think my mind is tricking me into seeing the slightest yellowish tinge. Certainly not something I would have picked out unpromopted.

[natek313]

No. I think the skin tone is good as is.

[Ray Dockrey]

I also think the skin tone looks good.

[ttosifa]

It is a tad on the yellow side, but is more biased towards cyan (blue-green) on the shadowed side of her face. The lit side of her face is about right. If you look at the lit cheek and compare it to the shadowed cheek, you might be able to see the blue-green cast (I can).

While it helps to have a calibrated monitor, you can check for casts if you have Photoshop. You set your eyedropper to show the CMYK color numbers in the info pallette (use a 3x3 average to avoid the odd pixel influencing your results). For Caucasian skin, yellow should be within about 10 points higher than magenta and cyan about 1/4 to 1/3 of yellow. This is pretty close to what you have on the lit side, but your yellow runs 12-20+ points higher on the shadowed side and your cyan about 1/2 of yellow.

So you have a old-fashioned uneven color cast that is potentially difficult to fix without ruining one side or the other. The color cast could come from reflections from trees, grass, or whatever. There are some techniques you can use to try to fix it, but I say screw it. It's a cute picture as is.

Some people (like me) like to have yellow a bit higher than "correct" for warmth or artistic reasons.

Lee Varis' book "Skin" discusses this at length. Dan Margulis in "Professional Photoshop 5ed" is a deep discussion of this.

[mandyatm]

Wow, thanks for taking the time to type all that! She was on a narrow sidewalk with bushes along the sides, so they might be part of the color cast or maybe the shadow from her hat. I will try adjusting the CMYK like you said, if it doesn't work for this picture atleast I have it for other ones!

ETA: can I adjust CMYK in Elements? I know I can adjust curves with the eyedroper for RGB, but don't see CMYK?

[mandyatm]

I couldn't find CMYK, but I played with the colors I have a little. I turned down the green just barely only on the right side. Then I increased blue a little on the whole picture and it seemed to remove the yellow I was seeing on my screen. Not sure if it is even noticeable though, hope it is not too pink now.

[gdowden70]

I'm just curious. What type of monitor and printer are you using?

[mandyatm]

I have a dell laptop and I use an online printing service. I was using Nations Photo Lab, but am going to try MPix now and get their calibration kit. Would love a mac. Is that what most people use? 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.

[PhotoPhix]

Originally Posted by mandyatm

I really need to get my monitor calibrated. Sometimes my pics look a little yellow when printed. I can't tell if her skin is kinda yellow here? Thanks for the help, any other comments welcome.


50mm
f/2.5
1/320 sec
ISO 200