Crush on Fix-Its

It's Fix-It time. The photographer, Julie submitted this photo to the i heart faces Flickr Group for the rest of us to play with and try to fix. She told us the odd color cast came from the yellow walls and light coming through pink curtains (a challenge for any on-location photographer).  My walls are aqua, hot pink....I've been here many times. 

I used Photoshop but all the edits can be done on the most basic of photo editing programs. 

the process

1. Black & white or color? Sometimes with skin tone issues, it may be easier to eliminate the color. Her PJs would have turned out lovely in B/W all that contrast but her skin would look muddy--a "term" that manages to make its way into almost any and all discussions I am having about black and white photography. I opted for color to get all that delicious baby skin color and pop in her PJs. 

2. To crop or not? Being a location (I'm hearing this called environmental photography) photographer, I couldn't part with the house details even if it only included a small portion of the frames in the hall. I love placement, which is why I rarely studio shoot. 

3. Brighten up her face using CURVES. Careful to not blow out(over brighten which results in lost details) the left side of her face. I had to use the SELECT tool and only brighten the right side and bottom portion of the image.

4. I'm old school. Worked in photo labs and darkrooms so I went to the old standby of COLOR BALANCE.  I think it pays off to learn the difference between majenta - red and cyan - blue. Adjust to her skin tone. I always tend to adjust for a warmer skin. You may like it cooler with a little more blue in it.

5. SHARPNESS. The image is a little soft. I used a tool that I have never used (a ha...I'm learning too) SHARPEN under the FILTERS. I don't think I used too much. When you do, it starts to look like someone has drawn an ink line around all the defined/harder edges- particularly on the eyes and it can look overdone and unnatural.

6. She had a bit of the sweet baby shine on the her chin and a tiny mark on her cheek. I CLONED that out.

7. DODGED (brightened) her eyes a touch. VOILA. FINI. 

Visit the link above and download to try your own editing hand. Have fun.