C&C needed, please

[Sweetsomedays]

Need some help here with my specific questions but feel free to comment on other things. Also feel free to edit if you wish.


How do I take care of the splotchy redness in her skin?

Part of my husbands hand is showing in this photo so and looked distracting. I cropped but wanted to still have them holding hands still in the photo. Took this in the AM with minimal light threw a window and my SB-600 off to the side bouncing off the ceiling. I love the way my son looks but my husband has a natural roseyness to his cheeks which makes him look weird in this pic. Suggestions?

Thank you for your help!

 

[FSTOPMIAMI]

Here is my attempt, a bit of contrast and saturation as well as some work in Noise Ninja. Lightened the eyes a bit. Larger resolution pic might come out better as the adjustments make it soft all around.

Armando

 

[Sweetsomedays]

I have no idea what Noise Ninja is

K, I did some more playing as well..re-touched with healing brush, gausian blur, erased the blur on the eyes and mouth a bit and then brightened the eyes.

?

 

[FSTOPMIAMI]

Noise Ninja is a noise reduction plug in for PS.

Armando

 

[JimmyJaceyMom]

Did you use the unsharp mask on this to maybe make the eyes sharper? That's cool but if you do it in layers and only erase back the eyes it will look a lot more natural and will be easier to edit. The eyes will still be super sharp but the rest you can add contrast to. Does that make sense?

 

[kundalini]

Well, my opinion is that all kids that age have splotches Sure, with PS you can minimize them, but should only to a certain degree. Although I hang my head in shame with the expertise that FSTOPMIAMI was able to generate in removing those slight imperfections, it looks a bit plastic.

I like your 2nd version Sweetsomedays because you have reduced, but not elimiated those perfect imperfections.

 

[Sweetsomedays]

It will make sense when I do it JimmyJace, gonna give it another go lol. I think I went a little slap happy in PS.

Thanks Kundalini, I used a spot healing brush but very soft. I like her little imperfections to...so long as it's not boogers.

 

[kundalini]

Oh BTW, the rosey checks of your husband......cease and desist on the red wine. JAT.

 

[Sweetsomedays]

Kundalini- Ya mean leave up alone?

I think I am getting worse. This looks to bright and flat to me, now I d'know what to do with it.

 

[JimmyJaceyMom]

If you can maybe post the original we can sort it out - it takes a few tries sometimes and after so many you start to lose fresh ideas. If you'd like, post the original and see if we can do it step by step - it's definately a beautiful shot.

 

[Sweetsomedays]

You rock, Kathi!

 

[JimmyJaceyMom]

Whew! Sorry it took me so long!

I think I see what you were doing with the edits above. If you add a lot of unsharp mask than you will see more things like splotchiness that actually do exist but that you don't actually see when you look at the baby in person of course.
Then if you try to add hue/sat to that it's going to bring out those marks even more.

I didn't add any contrast to this at all. It was very bright to begin with so contrast would have blown out the face some. I did the unsharp mask until the eyes looked sharper but not so much that it changed the look of the other features.
Then I used a layer and did hue'sat to bring out the color of the stripes in the hat and sweater. I then erased back to normal the face and background.
I merged the layers and added a little bit of yellow and a tiny bit of red because the color of the baby was bluish (maybe incorrect white balance?) in the original.
Then I went in close and sharpened the eyeball with the sharpen tool adn lightenened the whites with the lighten tool.
I think that's it. I hope it turned out okay.
Oh yeah, and since the baby was not very closeup up I cropped to make her not in the center.

 

[JimmyJaceyMom]

Oh yeah - there was no need to clone out any blemishes. I forgot to mention that as I see the conversation above.

 

[Sweetsomedays]

Thank you! I love that..and you are a magician

 

[heip]

Kathi did a great job on that edit.
I love the practice so I edited the shot of your hubby and son.
Lightened his rosey cheeks a little, then softened them. That makes the rosey and regular skin tone transition gradual.