C&C please one photo

KMWKMW Registered Users Posts: 118 Major grins
edited June 13, 2007 in People
Could someone please tell me how my exposure and color looks on this photo? I have a bunch like this one shot mostly in the shade. I want to make sure his skin tone looks good and that there is no color cast. Thanks for looking.

161940491-M.jpg
Nikon D80
18-135mm 3.5-5.6
50mm 1.4
SB600

Comments

  • LilleGLilleG Registered Users Posts: 313 Major grins
    edited June 11, 2007
    There seems to be a bit of a blue cast. Especially noticeable in the whites of his eyes. Otherwise, it's a very good portrait of a little cutie.
  • photogmommaphotogmomma Registered Users Posts: 1,644 Major grins
    edited June 11, 2007
    I agree! Definitely too blue - try taking a white balance from his shirt, too, if it's really white. Or the whites of his eyes.

    I'd also crop from the bottom and left to put him less centered.

    VERY good shot, though! Definitely worth doing a few *minor* twead! Wonderful job...
  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited June 11, 2007
    Set your neutral gray point on the whites of the eyes, and you should be all set. The shirt could work, but there's so much variation in coloring, the results are unpredictable. I tried it on the whites of the eyes, and the shot looks beautiful! :D
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  • KMWKMW Registered Users Posts: 118 Major grins
    edited June 11, 2007
    Thank you both of you for your comments and suggestions. I thought I did notice a blue color cast. I'm still learning....Now looking at the histogram the blues are touching the right edges. I have elements 5....how do I correct the color cast? Should I just desaturate the blue channel? I'm still trying to figure out how to measure the colors. I read the tutorials on skin tone and elements 5 does not have cyan and magenta values either. How do I measure the white balance? Thanks for your help.
    Nikon D80
    18-135mm 3.5-5.6
    50mm 1.4
    SB600
  • KMWKMW Registered Users Posts: 118 Major grins
    edited June 11, 2007
    DavidTO wrote:
    Set your neutral gray point on the whites of the eyes, and you should be all set. The shirt could work, but there's so much variation in coloring, the results are unpredictable. I tried it on the whites of the eyes, and the shot looks beautiful! :D

    Thanks Dave...How do I do this in elements 5?
    Nikon D80
    18-135mm 3.5-5.6
    50mm 1.4
    SB600
  • DesmondDesmond Registered Users Posts: 187 Major grins
    edited June 12, 2007
    KMW wrote:
    Thanks Dave...How do I do this in elements 5?

    I also have PSE5 , go to "enhance " - " adjust color " - " remove color cast " and click on a 'white' surface on the picture [ eyes etc. ] . This will automatically remove the blue in this case .
    Nikon D80 , D50 , SB600 , SB800 , Nikon 18-200VR , Tamron 28-75 di 2.8 , Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 , Nikon 50mm 1.8 . Tamron 17-50 f2.8 , Nikon 70-200 VR f2.8 .
  • KMWKMW Registered Users Posts: 118 Major grins
    edited June 12, 2007
    Desmond wrote:
    I also have PSE5 , go to "enhance " - " adjust color " - " remove color cast " and click on a 'white' surface on the picture [ eyes etc. ] . This will automatically remove the blue in this case .

    Thank you.....I did that and it looks like it worked. How does it look now?

    162001887-M.jpg
    Nikon D80
    18-135mm 3.5-5.6
    50mm 1.4
    SB600
  • urbanariesurbanaries Registered Users Posts: 2,690 Major grins
    edited June 12, 2007
    KMW wrote:
    Thank you.....I did that and it looks like it worked. How does it look now?

    162001887-M.jpg
    MUCH BETTER! I love this shot....adorable. clap.gif
    Canon 5D MkI
    50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, 24-70 2.8L, 35mm 1.4L, 135mm f2L
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  • KMWKMW Registered Users Posts: 118 Major grins
    edited June 12, 2007
    urbanaries wrote:
    MUCH BETTER! I love this shot....adorable. clap.gif
    Thank you....all of you have been very helpful. I'm learning something new everyday and realize now how import color correctin is. Your eyes do play tricks on you sometimes.
    Nikon D80
    18-135mm 3.5-5.6
    50mm 1.4
    SB600
  • DesmondDesmond Registered Users Posts: 187 Major grins
    edited June 12, 2007
    KMW wrote:
    Thank you.....I did that and it looks like it worked. How does it look now?

    You can also play around with the "adjust for skin tone " feature of the " adjust color " section " . It works very much the same way as the "remove color cast " but instead of clicking on something white you click on the skin .
    Nikon D80 , D50 , SB600 , SB800 , Nikon 18-200VR , Tamron 28-75 di 2.8 , Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 , Nikon 50mm 1.8 . Tamron 17-50 f2.8 , Nikon 70-200 VR f2.8 .
  • KMWKMW Registered Users Posts: 118 Major grins
    edited June 12, 2007
    Desmond wrote:
    You can also play around with the "adjust for skin tone " feature of the " adjust color " section " . It works very much the same way as the "remove color cast " but instead of clicking on something white you click on the skin .

    Thanks..I will try that too. One more question I hope you do not mind answering. Is there a work around in Elements 5 to find the Cyan and Magenta values? Or am I safe reading the histogram if there are no pixels of red, blue or green touching the edges?
    Nikon D80
    18-135mm 3.5-5.6
    50mm 1.4
    SB600
  • SenecaSeneca Registered Users Posts: 1,661 Major grins
    edited June 12, 2007
    Sooo darn cute...look at those eyes!!! So adorable.
  • CathieTCathieT Registered Users Posts: 56 Big grins
    edited June 12, 2007
    With the crop and the colour correction, this is just perfect!!
    Cheers,
    Cathie

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  • DesmondDesmond Registered Users Posts: 187 Major grins
    edited June 13, 2007
    KMW wrote:
    Thanks..I will try that too. One more question I hope you do not mind answering. Is there a work around in Elements 5 to find the Cyan and Magenta values? Or am I safe reading the histogram if there are no pixels of red, blue or green touching the edges?

    I don't know about cyan and magenta but if you click on the arrow next to "channel" on the histogram you can choose any of three colors , red , green or blue to view or "color" which seems to show cyan and magenta .
    ok , I got this from the help section after typing in "cyan " ...
    Colors Displays the composite RGB histogram individually by color. Red, green, and blue represent the pixels in those channels. Cyan, magenta, and yellow represent where the histograms of two channels overlap. Gray represents areas where all three color channel histograms overlap.
    Grayscale images have a single channel option: Gray.
    Anyway I wouldn't worry too much about histograms if the picture looks good to the eye .
    One more thing to try with your picture , I tried it and it looks good , I just wasn't sure of an easy way to upload the picture . Open the picture again is PSE5 , do a "remove color cast " and click on his white shirt and see how much warmer the picture gets . His eyes may have a bit of a yellow cast to them naturally so there is still a slight blue on the shirt which goes away when you remove the color cast and his face gets much "warmer" which looks better to me .
    Nikon D80 , D50 , SB600 , SB800 , Nikon 18-200VR , Tamron 28-75 di 2.8 , Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 , Nikon 50mm 1.8 . Tamron 17-50 f2.8 , Nikon 70-200 VR f2.8 .
  • KMWKMW Registered Users Posts: 118 Major grins
    edited June 13, 2007
    Seneca...he's my friend's son and those eyes are the reason I wanted to put him in my portfolio. He is beautiful and very photogenic.

    ...and thank you Cathie for your comment.
    Nikon D80
    18-135mm 3.5-5.6
    50mm 1.4
    SB600
  • KMWKMW Registered Users Posts: 118 Major grins
    edited June 13, 2007
    Desmond wrote:
    I don't know about cyan and magenta but if you click on the arrow next to "channel" on the histogram you can choose any of three colors , red , green or blue to view or "color" which seems to show cyan and magenta .
    ok , I got this from the help section after typing in "cyan " ...
    Colors Displays the composite RGB histogram individually by color. Red, green, and blue represent the pixels in those channels. Cyan, magenta, and yellow represent where the histograms of two channels overlap. Gray represents areas where all three color channel histograms overlap.
    Grayscale images have a single channel option: Gray.
    Anyway I wouldn't worry too much about histograms if the picture looks good to the eye .
    One more thing to try with your picture , I tried it and it looks good , I just wasn't sure of an easy way to upload the picture . Open the picture again is PSE5 , do a "remove color cast " and click on his white shirt and see how much warmer the picture gets . His eyes may have a bit of a yellow cast to them naturally so there is still a slight blue on the shirt which goes away when you remove the color cast and his face gets much "warmer" which looks better to me .

    Thank you for your detailed post. I will try that. I wasn't sure if by removing the blue color cast I was making him look too yellow. I have been desaturating the red channel slightly -7 and putting in .90 in red levels box instead of .100 just to be safe. It's only a slight difference but I just want to make sure when she orders prints he doesn't appear too red or yellow.
    Nikon D80
    18-135mm 3.5-5.6
    50mm 1.4
    SB600
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