Working with digital images

[LAPIII]

I want to change the face color in the first photo to be like in the second photo.  In the first photo I didn't use flash because I didn't want to accidentally scare the baby, by the way, can you give me advice on that too.

• http://www.box.net/shared/eqebiujd0u
  
• http://www.box.net/shared/0j9aaeye9d
  

[Mike54]

I'm afraid I can't give you any advice on not scaring the baby...:-/ but as to correcting the color perhaps I can help.

I used Paint Shop Pro but you should be able to make adjustments with any of the normal photo editors. What I did was to first reduce the saturation on the first photo, then I created a copy of the image as a second layer and over brightened it. I set the opacity of the brightened image to 40% (adjust to taste) and merged the two layers. To finish things up I simply played with the brightness control to achieve the final results...



Hopefully that will give you some ideas for adjusting the image to suit your preferences.  

[ShutterbugGail]

You did an excellent job of color correcting the image, Mike!

LAPIII, what a beautiful child!

I try not to use a flash when taking photos of children, even if it means moving them closer to a window or door to let the outside light in. I may have to raise the ISO to 200 or higher (though I try to use the lowest ISO possible).

But sometimes it's impossilbe to photograph without the flash. I've taken LOTS of photos of children and have never felt that the flash scared them. I just don't overdo the number of shots I take at any given time. I also stand as far away from a baby as possilbe while remaining in the flash range.

The technique used by Mike involves understanding layers. If you go to the main site and do a search, you'll find a few articles explaining the basic concepts of using layers.

Generally, when using a flash, the orange/red tone effects the entire image, so you may be able to use a basic image editing, such as Picasa, to remove the cast.

http://www.digicamhelp.com/processing-photos/basic-editing/color-cast-removal.php

[Mike54]

The technique used by Mike involves understanding layers. If you go to the main site and do a search, you'll find a few articles explaining the basic concepts of using layers.

Quite right ShutterbugGail, I sometimes forget that not everyone uses layers every day.
Just for curiosities sake I tried Picasa for the correction as well using just the tuning adjustments (color temperature slider first). It didn't come out too bad...


There's more than one way to skin a cat...  

[ShutterbugGail]

There's more than one way to skin a cat...  

You're certainly right. But it's also true that you can get better results by using more sophisticated techniques, as your examples show. It depends on how much one wants to get into the editing process.

I learned something new from your tip, Mike, which I plan to use. So glad you shared it!

[rhinorick]

I learned some things to try also. Thanks Mike.

[Mike54]

But it's also true that you can get better results by using more sophisticated techniques, as your examples show. It depends on how much one wants to get into the editing process.

It's coincidental that I've been playing more with layers lately. Seems I've been in the position of shooting under less than ideal conditions (I find the sun is rarely my friend, especially for landscapes ).

[LAPIII]

Thanks everybody for the contributions to this thread!  I'd like everyone to know that I am likeing photography more as I go, which is why I've decided now to make this photo my brothers first Father's Day present.

I've got a terrific idea based on Mike's.  If I can try to trace and/or cut out the face and animals in order to leave the white parts and face as in Poppet's, on Askville, and use Mike's animals, clothes, and blanket because the colors are greater than Poppet's, but not the white parts.

[ShutterbugGail]

LAPIII, what photo editing software are you using? Perhaps we can give you some additional hints, if needed.

Glad you're enjoying photography!! So do we!

[LAPIII]

Right now I am not using an software, that's why I created another thread in this folder.

[LAPIII]

Mike54, the blanket's white part and the face color is just as in the photo at this link:

http://askville.amazon.com/askville/OpenQuestionViewer.do?requestId=2586530

I believe that the animals are actually a bit darker.  Can you suggest how I might do that?  I think tracing and cutting them out to edit on a seperate photo then putting them back should do it.  In order to trace and cut, I'll have to zoom in as best that I can.

[Mike54]

Changing the saturation of two parts of an image in opposite directions will require something more than Picasa to edit. I would suggest downloading Gimp and playing with that. If you use the selection tool to very carefully outline/select the face of the baby you can reduce the saturation and lighten it. Once you've got that as you want it invert the selection (to have everything BUT the face selected and boost the saturation and perhaps darken things a bit. I strongly suggest using at least 2 layers, one to work on and one to blend with as there will be some haloing of your face selection unless you are very, very careful. Again, this was done in Paint Shop Pro but Gimp will have similar tools to work with...


As you can see the blanket and clothing are quite a bit more saturated here than in my initial attempt.

[ShutterbugGail]

I tweak individual colors, including increasing or decreasing saturation, by using the Selective Color adjustment. I use Photoshop 7 and it may be available in programs like Paintshop Pro, perhaps called a different name. I do not think this tool is available in Adobe Elements.

I can use a selective color adjustment layer and adjust indiviual colors across an entire image. Or, I can make a duplicate of the original, select an area and make a more localized Selective Color adjustment to a color.

The selective color adjustments, according to Adobe, "consist of the primary additive and subtractive colors plus whites, neutrals, and blacks."

It sounds complicated but it's quite easy to use once you get the hang of it. It is one of my favorite editing techniques.

For example, if I have a photo where the sky is white and washed out, I can change it to blue. This may involve erasing other white areas of the top layer, but this too is easy in most photos.

Or if I want the grass to look a tad more saturated, but not other colors in a photo, I can tweak just green.

(note to self: when are you going to get the Selective Colors tutorial up at the site that you've been meaning to do for months!?!   )