I'm blue in the face..

[carrbowl]

I've looked at this photo so long...I can't decide if I like the colors or not...I have tried some different ideas and still cant decide if this is right...???

[MicWayWal]

Renae,
I know how you feel. When I get to that point I get up and leave the computer and stay gone for awhile. But before I leave, I turn the image upside down and then leave. My monitor will go to screen saver in a few minutes.
When I come back I can not see the image. I make the screen saver go away and then look at the upside down image. It is SO different than when I left that I can look at it objectively. You will be surprised what you can see.
The girl and the woman look fantastic. The man's face looks a little blue but it may be that way naturally. Something you should have noted when you shot them so you would have a better idea of how to color adjust the image.
Hope that helps with this image and the ones to come your way in the future.

[PhotoByLeal]

What were your settings on your camera and lighting?
I tried right clicking on it but, the Exif is not available.......

[carrbowl]

That's wierd the EXIF is gone...must be because I did some work in lightroom..
Originally 125 7.1 ISO 400 white balance on flash...in light room I made the LB back to auto (because it was way too yellow) and then added a little yellow back in.

Thanks Michael... I'll try your trick!!!

[PhotoByLeal]

Originally Posted by carrbowl

That's wierd the EXIF is gone...must be because I did some work in lightroom..
Originally 125 7.1 ISO 400 white balance on flash...in light room I made the LB back to auto (because it was way too yellow) and then added a little yellow back in.

Thanks Michael... I'll try your trick!!!

Why are you shooting @ ISO 400?
Try ISO 125 or ISO 160 MAX!


later,

[Cajungaltx]

Maybe it's just me - and I know your asking about color - but it looks really soft. It might be cause it's not sharpened for web...

The mom/daughter's color looks good - the guy, I think it's his stubble that's causing the color funny thinking bit. Cause he looks good if you cover up the stubble... it's the stubble that's causing it...

[RKEnnis]

The color of the image looks pretty good to me.

I've been working through some Photoshop tutorials on Lynda.com. They have some that talk about "color correction by the numbers". Basically, they have you sampling some areas of skin tone, and applying a curves adjustment to the various CMYK color channels till the ratio of colors meet a certain skin tone formula.

So, for light to medium skin tones, the ratios would be:
C - 1/3 to 1/5 of Magenta/Yellow
M - Magenta and yellow very close in value, with
Y - slightly higher than magenta.

I know I'm not explaining this well but there is a lot of information on Google on the subject "skin correction by the numbers".

I attempted this process on your image, with the following results.

I'm not saying this is better - I'm just learning this technique, and I do like your image as-is. I just did this for the learning experience.

Also, I think the clothing looks worse in my version. If it were my image, and I liked the corrected skin tones better, I'd likely apply separate correction on the clothes, to bring the red back up some.

Anyway, FWIW, here is my version (quality suffered from being re-compressed).

[carrbowl]

I know they look soft..I'm having the same issue lots of people are ...but they aren't soft..I'm also going by the color of the backdrop which is grey...

It's wierd because in PS the mans eyes look like he has red around his eyes...kind of like allergy eyes (not in the eye balls them selves but on the skin)...but on the web, that redness is gone..?????? I swear...the devil is having his way today...

[dminton]

Holy Crap I went to school with both of them. Jeremy has had perpetual stubble since early in high school.

[carrbowl]

Well he carries a gun now..better be nice when you talk about him!!!!