would you fix this?

joshhuntnm

there may be other problems with this image, but the one that stands out to me is the young gal's skin is way lighter than everyone else's (I have actually darkend this just a bit in lightroom. Question: would you fix her skin to make it resemble the others?

pyry

joshhuntnm wrote:

there may be other problems with this image, but the one that stands out to me is the young gal's skin is way lighter than everyone else's (I have actually darkend this just a bit in lightroom. Question: would you fix her skin to make it resemble the others?

Definitely wouldn't, she's a little bit paler than the rest of the group, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Swartzy

The "paleness" (is that a word? ) stands out dramatically as the other faces are not natural in color. This should be color balanced and you could add a bit of vibrance and saturation to her. This is a family photo. This is something one can only assume that they want in a frame. The idea of "well, that what was there" flys in the face of what purpose the photograph serves. The yellow cast has taken away the vitality and vibrancy of the subjects, making the pale one stand out.

Scott_Quier

As Swartzy alluded to, portrait photography is not about capturing what is there, but about creating an image showing the client/model in the best light possible (no pun intended).

So, if that means correcting skin tones, burning here, dodging there, removing skin blemishes (to a point), etc - then that's what's got to be done.

The fact that the lady on the right has skin so much more pale than the others really spearates her from the rest. This is usually not something a family portrait should be doing. Rather, you would think a family portrait would emphasize family unity. So, yes correct all the skin tones, and bring the young lady's more in line with the rest.

Oh, and I hope this is a crop. As a 4x6 (or similar ratio print) this works. But, you need a lot more space in this if your clients might want an 8x10 or any ratio other than 4x6. Something to think about.

joshhuntnm

Is this better? I used the guy in the back's shirt to set the color balance and tinkered with the young gal's skin a bit.

Swartzy

Yes, the color is a bit better...a bit more magenta than yellow this time. Zoom in on your original Josh...look a the whites of the eyes and teeth.....created a saturation layer, lower the sat (middle slider) down to -80%. Go to "Edit"/Fill/black. Hit "B", "D", "X" (x toggles foreground/background color white & black. Use a small brush and paint some teeth with the "white" (foreground color).....this will help you see what casting is taking place. Try it on the whites of the eyes as well.

Scott_Quier

Looks so much better on this un-calibrated POS work monitor.

It'll be interesting to see what others, on a calibrated monitor have to say about the skin tones of the two on the left. Shoot, Swartzy beat me to it (slow typing - what can I say?)

I used the guy in the back's shirt to set the color balance

Josh, do you have a gray card? If not - get one as they take a lot of the guess work out of the processing. At worst, the provide a "standard" starting point in your color-correction process.

Ed911

joshhuntnm wrote:

Is this better? I used the guy in the back's shirt to set the color balance and tinkered with the young gal's skin a bit.

Yep, much better....

WingsOfLovePhoto

If you are using photoshop try white balancing with the first dropper tool in RAW and click on the dad's hair where it appears gray at the very top. I gave it a whirl and it did a very nice job of setting a custom white balance. Nice shot btw