Taking pictures of drunk people

[FreeStar Houston]

This may sound silly, but I am completely serious.

I take a lot of pictures of people who are either drunk or have been drinking. This tends to make them a bit red in the face, which comes across rather pronounced in my images. I can usually fix it using a cooling filter and curve adjustment in Photoshop, but that is a really inefficient way to do it.

Any ideas for how I can deal with it better on the front-end?

tia.

[PIC]

On the frontend -
Take the drinks from them and drink them yourself while shooting in MF.
This will act as an effective unsharp mask.

EL

[Cope]

Maybe decrease saturation in camera.

[AndrewCCM]

Yeah, I'd suggest playing with your camera saturation or shoot raw and do a tweak across all images after the fact.

Personally, when I shoot people in a natural casual environment, I usually give them pics that look like they did at the time they were taken. I don't touch up photos unless they are portraits or being paid for such. Perhaps it's because I like to see their expressions when they see how they portray themselves in public. hehehe... I know, I am sick.. ha!

[FreeStar Houston]

I normally don't touch up my batches. sometimes there will be a pic I really like, but it looks a little off because of the alcohol-induced red face, so I fix it.

[Jenny Z]

Quick fix in Photoshop:

Duplicate Layer
Choose the menu option: Image - Apply Image
Change the Channel to Red and Blending to Lighten
Hit OK
Change Opacity of the layer to something like 10% (or whatever looks best... it's a fine line between getting the flushed look out and making them look dead)

Voila! If there are other items in the picture that are red that you want to leave alone, use a layer mask. (Tutorial on layer masks here).

[LDB]

Quit hanging around with drunks.

[studiocygnet]

It has been my experience, that even if you get the red and blotchy skin fixed, you can still tell that they are drunk by looking in their eyes. People who have been drinking get saggy eyes. I've made the mistake of handing more than one glass of wine to a model before, to "loosen them up". But it ends up ruining the photos, as you can tell they've been drinking. The only solution is to take the photos earlier during the event, evening, whatever, so that no one has had the chance to imbibe too much.

[toverman]

Shoot most of your photos early in the evening. I just shot a wedding reception last weekend for a couple who got married in Vegas. The "action" of the evening was them making a toast and cutting the cake. Oh, and eating dinner. And drinking from the open bar. And smoking outside the restaurant. Good times.