Did I go overboard again?

[m_mphotography]

This was a shot that I took of my kids this afternoon...2 1/2 years and almost 1...so you can imagine how long they sat still for me. Anyway, I was just shooting in the front room--no time to set up anything. I know the background toys and the white paw are a bit distracting, but I'm needing C&C on the processing. Here is the SOOC
...
and here is the after...

Here is what I did...

1. adjusted for my white and black points (using threshold to find the darkest point, and whitest point, and then using a curves layer to adjust my black to 8,8,8 and white to 245, 245, 245)
2. I added a levels layer to pinch in my histogram
3. I added another curves layer to add a bit of an S-curve
4. then I whitened the eyes, and teeth, darkened the hair, lashes, and brows a bit.
5. after all this, I smoothed out the skin just a tiny bit
6. Then I did a high pass filter on a desaturated copy of the flattened image, and changed my layer mode to soft light.

I'm about to throw the towel in...is there a bit of a green tint to the processed pic??

[akimartymar]

I'd say yes, you over did it a bit. The kids have sort of a fake look to them. They look oversharpened. Tone down the processing layer next time.

[Cam]

I think it looks really good.
I may hit it with a touch of neat image, just a bit.
But I think you did well the layers and curves.

[kdloftis]

I agree with PP, they do look a little too smooth. Kiddos are inherently softer and more delicate because their skin is younger, less marred by the sun and time so they don't necessarily need to be softened in every case. If you were going for a soft angelic look then yes it might work, but I'd also suggest changing to B&W, sepia, etc. to maximize the impact of the image.

I like that the toys in the background in the original image are a bit more blurred out. When you sharpened the image you sharpened it so much that you lost your depth of field (edit: by this I mean you lost what you had in the original image, you extended your depth of field). The toys too busy in the second image and detract from the main focus which is the cuteness of the kiddos.

Start with the original image again and simply adjust your white balance to balance their skin tones a bit and see if it's enough. I have a feeling it might be.

Cute kid!

[m_mphotography]

This is another in the series that I took this afternoon. What do you think of this one?

[ara.bentley]

Don't throw in the towel!!!

I am where you are right now - learning - ack! But I have seen myself improving and all because of these fine folks at tpf. Keep posting and working... unfortunantly that's the only way.

One thing that has helped me is putting a photo I know has good skin tones, whites etc, next to the one I am working on so I have a reference. Also i have started looking at my photo on different computer screens - I found out a lot of my whites were actually yellow - and needed to adjust my screen.

super cute kids!!! -ara

[Christopher Mac]

What are your camera settings? Specifically, what are you using for sharpness, color control (vivid, neutral, portrait, etc.) and contrast?

Here are a few things to consider:
1. Some Nikon cameras have a tendency to add too much red to an image. I had a standard photo shop action to remove the red/magenta cast from D70 and D70S files until I learned about custom curves. I seem to remember removing reds from mid tones a lot (-4, -5 was pretty common).
2. Some lenses will add a very slight warm cast to images, especially some of the cheaper zooms.
3. Even flash units can put out a different quality of light depending on what you are using.

I'm going to take a guess here and say your camera is set on Vivid, a higher sharpening setting (+2?), and you're pretty much shooting in program mode and letting the camera set your white balance. Correct me if I'm wrong. There are a couple of things you can do.

First, if you haven't already, try the custom setting for portraits as this will soften results and offer more neutral skin tones. Set your sharpening on normal or even -1 (use Photoshop to sharpen). Be sure to set your white balance to flash or natural light depending on where yoou are shooting.

Second, try finding or creating a custom curve for portraits and download it to your camera. I seem to remember a white wedding curve that worked well as a starting point for me.

Third, are you shooting in RAW? You can back up and experiment with RAW images - you can change color and tone settings, sharpness, etc. in Nikon Capture.

Kids move pretty fast. Experiment using different settings on your spouse or a friend.

[m_mphotography]

Originally Posted by Christopher Mac

What are your camera settings? Specifically, what are you using for sharpness, color control (vivid, neutral, portrait, etc.) and contrast?

Here are a few things to consider:
1. Some Nikon cameras have a tendency to add too much red to an image. I had a standard photo shop action to remove the red/magenta cast from D70 and D70S files until I learned about custom curves. I seem to remember removing reds from mid tones a lot (-4, -5 was pretty common).
2. Some lenses will add a very slight warm cast to images, especially some of the cheaper zooms.

3. Even flash units can put out a different quality of light depending on what you are using.

I'm going to take a guess here and say your camera is set on Vivid, a higher sharpening setting (+2?), and you're pretty much shooting in program mode and letting the camera set your white balance. Correct me if I'm wrong. There are a couple of things you can do.

First, if you haven't already, try the custom setting for portraits as this will soften results and offer more neutral skin tones. Set your sharpening on normal or even -1 (use Photoshop to sharpen). Be sure to set your white balance to flash or natural light depending on where yoou are shooting.

Second, try finding or creating a custom curve for portraits and download it to your camera. I seem to remember a white wedding curve that worked well as a starting point for me.

Third, are you shooting in RAW? You can back up and experiment with RAW images - you can change color and tone settings, sharpness, etc. in Nikon Capture.

Kids move pretty fast. Experiment using different settings on your spouse or a friend.

Chris,

Thanks for your input. First let me just tell you what my camera is set to. I have a D80 and I have it set to Portrait, no sharpening (at least that I can tell) and I do all of my shooting in Manual (with the exception of a few times, but I don't think I use program mode often). You are correct in that I had left my white balance to auto, and therefore it may be off. I mostly shoot in RAW, but these I shot in JPEG, so there is the compression and loss of info that I could not recover in CR.

I guess I have not yet figured out how to download curves into my camera, so for contrast, color saturation I'm just using CR or CS3. I'm by no means an expert in post processing, and that may be why my pics look akward--I'm experimenting.

I'm not sure, maybe my camera does add some magenta into the picture, in which case I will need to do selective coloring on them and reduce the magenta/red by the numbers you specify (as a starting point)

I have noticed that the flash does add a certain color cast to the pics, and I try to just balance that in CR or Lightroom.

I'm not sure if my lens is adding warmth to the pics or not, I've by no means got one of the nice portrait lenses yet. As of now, I'm just using my 18-135mm but I'm looking to upgrade, maybe to the 85mm prime (just have to read some reviews and gather the funds)

I do appreciate all of the information and ideas to try that you have provided. I've posted these images in the Post Processing Forum because that is what I have used to adjust contrast, saturation and sharpness and was wondering to get some feedback on how I had done. So, I gather that you think my images are a bit on the red side, wb is off, oversharpened and too contrasty??

Thanks...

[bthompson]

Honestly your color looks green in the second photo and I have a problem with people smoothing skin on kiddos. Here is what I think. And please know I am not saying this with a mean tone, but why are you worried about practicing post processing? Practice taking really good pictures, and then practice processing THOSE. I see posts all the time on other forums where people ask how is my processing on this sub-par photo.. It's hard to judge, because it's not a photo you should spend time on. Super cute kiddos, for sure, but practice your photography skills first, then worry about the post processing skills. :)

[12stones]

I'll agree with the getting it right in camera statement, but some pics just have to be fixed afterwards. Yes, you went overboard. This pic really only need slight adjustments.

Here's what I did:

Levels adjustment (highlights)
Dodged eyes and teeth
Slight contrast (+3) and brightness (+2)
Hi Pass Sharpening action (layer opacity= 20%)

[m_mphotography]

Brandi, so in your opinion this is not a well composed pic, or a well taken picture. That is what I gather from your comment. Yes, I understand the getting it right in camera, but I'm a strong believer that photos just POP when you do some work to them, after all dark room is where the magic happened with film right?? so why no use CS3? I do appreciate your honesty.

I'm also posting a new version of the second posed shot. I realized that it looks much more sharpened than it should because I decreased my resolution for posting. Here is the version at 300dpi but reduced in size to stay within the size limit for the forum. I think it looks much better.

Is this picture better taken?? better composition?? better post work (as much as it needed it anyway--and BTW it was minor)
Forgive the colors, they look a little bit blah but that is bec

Here is what I had originally posted...looks a bit more sharpened, or pixelized...right?

[m_mphotography]

Originally Posted by 12stones

I'll agree with the getting it right in camera statement, but some pics just have to be fixed afterwards. Yes, you went overboard. This pic really only need slight adjustments.

Here's what I did:

Levels adjustment (highlights)
Dodged eyes and teeth
Slight contrast (+3) and brightness (+2)
Hi Pass Sharpening action (layer opacity= 20%)

Ricky, that does look really good. Thanks. Can I ask what was your setting on the high pass filter?? I seem to always go a little bit too high.

[12stones]

Originally Posted by m_mphotography

Ricky, that does look really good. Thanks. Can I ask what was your setting on the high pass filter?? I seem to always go a little bit too high.

Marleny, I have an action that does the sharpening, and then I just adjust the layer opacity.

[Christopher Mac]

I like the top one you posted at 11:09 a.m. today. Good stuff there. I don't mind skin softening/smoothing on kids. Colors look good, but it would even make a nice b&w if you use the right conversion process.

I'm surprised you're getting the red skin tones you got in the first images you posted out of the D80. May I clarify? Does the D80 have a portrait mode? Or are you talking portrait tone in the custom settings menu? They're a bit different. I don't have a D80 - I guess I could look it up.

[m_mphotography]

Chris,
yes, I know there is a difference between the two "portraits" that you mention. The D80 has a Portrait program setting, and a portrait tone setting in the custom settings menu. I do all of my shooting in Manual, or aperture priority... so i don't use the Portrait program setting. And my custom setting is set to Portrait in the custom settings menu. Does that answer your question?