Daughter and Granddaughter

[sparkie1263]

Shot I took at my Grandsons graduation. They stole the spot light because he would not stand still for a second.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn219/sparkie1263/Sony%20A100/NicoleAngelenacopy.jpg


Frank

[DonSchap]

IMO, this is a good candidate for a crop, Frank. I apologize and took the liberty to demostrate the ffect. I felt the negative area to the right threw off the balance of the photo. I also did a small compensation to White Balance, because there was a tinge of cyan to their complexions and a bit of added sharpening to get the eyes.

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[Rooz]

beautiful kids frank, and a great portrait too.
(Don's crop is a winer too).

[sparkie1263]

I need to work on my editing skills. I also need to learn how to compose shots better. The crop you did Don is great. I will go and mess with my image and see if I cannot get it as good. I had one printed just to see how it looked in print. It looked good but the crop looks even better. That is what I like about these sites. just when you think you gat a good shot somebody comes by to tell you how to improve on it to make it better. Thanks Don and Rozz
Frank

[DonSchap]

Frank, to me, it's all about the ART. Just imagining what it is and then playing with the work until you get there. The beauty of digital ... it doesn't take hours to do ... just (hopefully) a few minutes of knowledgeable effort. Sharing the skills makes us all look better. How good does that get? LOL ... excellent!

[sparkie1263]

Don I tried tried to crop it and fix the cuts on my granddaughters hand. I also tried to whiten my daughters teeth and brighten there eyes. How does it look now?

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn219/sparkie1263/Sony%20A100/NicoleAngelenaFixed.jpg

I tried to fix the eyes and teeth by using the curves tool. Is that the best way to do it?

Frank

[DonSchap]

I'm not that big on portrait correction. It is an art form I just occassionally fool around with when colors are generally off ... too this, too that ... you know, White Balance and whatnot. Playing with eye white is a little touchy, in the sense that you can really overdo it if you aren't aware of it and it makes the person look like something out of a vampire movie or something.

I'm not saying that's the case, here ... I just don't know exactly how to advise a technique for it. I suppose there are a number of "professionals" who can giving up a Photoshop correction process to deal with "getting the red out" or enhancing of your "eye white" and "tooth brushing." LOL

Personally, I'd be interested in that kind of feedback, too.

Still, maybe it is just me, but I still see a cyan-cast to their complexions, in your latest posting. I used the little girl's hair bow for my "whitest-white" in White Balancing. Your daughter's white watch face was blown out, due to reflectivity ... and not a true white.

[sparkie1263]

How is the color now?

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn219/sparkie1263/Sony%20A100/NicoleAngelenaFixedColor.jpg

[sparkie1263]

Yes I have photoshop but I am just learning. I will keep trying.
Thanks

[dr4gon]

actually, to be honest I think the first one looked great (the best), even when off center. is that the original?

[sparkie1263]

Yes that was the original.
Thanks
Frank

[DonSchap]

Using the white sampling dropping in "Curves" can provide several shifts in White Balance, depending on what color bit gets selected ... so you often need to do several samples, but remember to look away from the screen, as you do this ... as you eyes will quickly adjust themselves. You have to "clear or neutralize them" to pick up color shifts, by looking elsewhere, them back to the screen.

That's why you really need to "Color Manage" your system (Camera, PC, Printer, scanner). The color measuring device does what your eyes simply cannot. I'll bet you that if we had our monitors sitting side by side, you would immediately see a color shift between the two, of the very same image ... and therein lies the real problem. In fact, I will go so far as to say everyone's monitor, that doesn't properly color manage, would probably have a good variety of color-shifts among them.

Since you are probably not doing serious prints ... you can get away with just getting a colorimeter (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/485807-REG/Pantone_MEU113_HueyPRO_Colorimeter.html) for your monitor. This will nearly automatically correct the shifts and get you (and anyone else) more "in the ballpark."

Now, I know some will argue "Oh, I don't need that", but if you have already invested in Photoshop to correct your images ... you sure do. Monitor-level management is really not that costly ... and personally, I cannot see spending alot of time editting images if you are not doing it correctly. The machine simply is not "tuned up", yet, without color management.

Think of it like this ... the monitor is out of the box ... set up to some unknown standard (maybe). You need to assure that what it is that you are producing is "set" to what everyone else should be seeing. Those who color manage ... DO see it correctly. Those who don't color manage ... are seeing whatever!

I kind of "goofed" when I made my earlier adjustments, as of last week, one of my monitors failed and I had replaced it, w/o taking the time to sit down calibrating it (Cardinal rule violation - BUZZ!). DOH! Anyway, I have since run the calibration and the color management has been installed.

Here is the new "color-managed correction" ... just quickly looking at, don't stare, look away for a moment, then back at the screen, and please tell me what color-shift you are seeing in it.

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Anyway, click on the red-colored link ... and tune that puppy up! This is the most economical device that actually works quite well. Then, making subtle color adjustments makes some sense. I apologize if my recent changes were slightly off, but I know we are on the right track with this. The real problem lies in no matter how correct it is, you will never correctly see it ... UNTIL you color manage your own monitor. Until then, we are speaking two different color languages. Think of the colorimeter as "the interpreter."

Honestly, they don't make this stuff not to use it ... and it definitely LEVELS our photographic "playing field." Call it "first things first."

Once again, if you're using MS Photoshop or other image correcting software for your images ... every member needs to at least start with a "Huey" (routinely - twice a month) to meet the minimum level of correction.