skin tone/look: help needed

guitarmy · Jul 10, 2007

So I shot my first kinda 'couply' shots this past week, and I need some input on my post-processing skills.

Tell me what's right and wrong with this shot, skin-tone wise, please!

I'm trying to walk the line between smoothing skin out and making it look too plasticy. Thanks!

Big Mike · Jul 10, 2007

I'd like to see a larger image but this looks pretty good to me...not over done.

Alpha · Jul 10, 2007

I think that the skin is too yellow, there are few mid-tones, and little shadow detail.

guitarmy · Jul 10, 2007

Really? Too yellow? I desaturated the yellow about 10 points or so. Maybe I gotta do more.

I could easily up the shadow detail with curves.

The_Traveler · Jul 10, 2007

this picture is a little small to see well.
the shadows are so dark, they almost look like their heads are poking through a black sheet.
I would eliminate the space between them.

AdamZx3 · Jul 10, 2007

Skintones look good to me, I might take a bit more yellow off of the guy though, maybe just a pinch. I wouldn't do anything to her skintones at all. Also I just calibrated my monitor today.

Looks good

gtkelly · Jul 12, 2007

Not sure here. To me the man's skin is on the very edge of being too smooth and taking on a 'mask' look. I think the woman's face here is about right.

The_Traveler · Jul 13, 2007

In looking at this again, I realized that what bothered me most is that there is no connection between the two people. They might as easily been PSed into the same picture.

skieur · Jul 22, 2007

The skin tone is less of a problem than the hair and part of the face blending into the background. As well, both his eyes should be visible and all the eyes need brightening in postprocessing.

skieur

midnitejam · Jul 29, 2007

On my monitor the girl's complexion is excellent. The guy appears to be very very fair complected. Maybe he needs a slight touch of rose overlay.

I really like your use of Hi-key lighting. Your lighting technique makes this a very dramatic portrait. It's a common technique used by the photographers who shoot for the ads and layouts in GQ. If you haven't already, pick up a copy of GQ and browse for other ideas.

littlesandra · Aug 5, 2007

His eyes to me, around them, the sockets and such are off yellow to me, and I don't think I like how close up the shot is done, backing it up a little, would have done wonders IMO