We get asked about skin tones so often that we thought we would share a really quick but effective processing trick with you.
The key to good skin tones is not just in the processing, so this will not be a miracle cure. You need to make sure that you have flattering light and great exposure to start, but sometimes you need to fix a slight color cast. Often we will forgo RAW and shoot jpgs for the quick processing and to save space. Rachel actually shoots both RAW and jpg at the same time with the D3 and will often just process the jpg while saving the RAW file for if it is ever needed. With proper exposure, all jpgs require are possibly a curves layer and some sharpening to be ready to go. Not everything needs the full RAW treatment.
Like this shot of Rachel’s daughter, Gemma. The light was nice and a little bump in curves was all it needed for exposure, but the setting sun reflecting off a red wooden fence has really added to the warm color cast in her skin.
We have included the before (left) and after (right) to show the results we got with 2 quick adjustment layers.
Here is what we did to fix the color cast.
It is a really simple trick and I am certain something that a lot you have seen before, but we thought a quick video would be helpful for those who are just really getting to know Photoshop. If you like the videos, we will look into doing more with a better production value, but for now, here you go! We have a new YouTube account, so if you are on YouTube, you can click to follow us there as well.
The response to our last poll on locations for a possible teaching tour was really wonderful. Clearly there are a lot of you who would like to learn more and we have a much better feel for where we are considering holding these classes. We would love to hear from you now about budget and time. If you would just take a minute to answer this super short poll, we would appreciate your thoughts.
As photographers, we find inspiration not only in photos, but all sorts of cool, creative stuff.
We thought it would be fun to showcase some of our favorite places to whittle away the hours online.
First up, is a tiny tour of some of our favorite kid related design blogs. Grab yourself a coffee or tea and get comfy, you could get lost in these for a while!
ohdeedoh is the baby of apartment therapy, the awesome and hugely successful home design blog. It is a wealth of endlessly inspiring ideas for kids room/nursery design, and all kid-related design from toys to dinnerware.
dos family is a Swedish interior design blog run by two friends. Dos focusses on family homes, all are beautiful, quirky, livable and completely awesome.
lmnop focuses on pulling the best of kid fashion and accessories from the biggest tradeshows in Paris, New York and Tokyo and bringing them to your living room.
grosgrain’s author, Kathleen describes herself as an artsy craftsy, penny pinching, party planning, playdating, fashion finding, sci-fi loving, stay at home mommy who always keeps her sewing machine plugged in and loves all things charming. There is so much DIY sewing inspiration and give aways for those who are less craft-inclined. One of our favorites is the last minute frock tutorial, throwing together a dress in less time that it takes to run a load of laundry, that’s a novel idea!
Inchmark is chock full of fabulous home DIY and craft ideas. Author Brooke is a book designer and former art director at Martha Stewart. She is always coming up with ingenious creations and twists on every day things. It’s a little early in the year, but we especially love her home made Halloween costume collection
Modern Kiddo is another fabulous blog that features all things kid related and awesome… wardrobe features, party ideas, craft tutorials… endless inspiration. Alix and Dottie know their cool stuff. Look out for them in the launch issue of MAEVE magazine next month (another cool thing we are super excited about! More on that later)
We left Etsy out of this round, because there is just too much there. That will be a post for another day!
What are some of your favorite kid related design blogs? We would love to see!
We love bringing you images from readers whether they are just beginning or already pros…like this shot from Carrie Hasson! Sometimes a shot just makes us smile. Many elements combined like great angle, wonderful expression and beautiful colors all bring this story to life in one frame. An outtake from a “bump” in her session.
I took this snap of Zoe the pug as I was preparing to photograph a little girl that she belongs to. Zoe is on the older side, and she has a new younger sibling, a pup that has 100 times the energy and 100 times less patience. Unfortunately, we had to postpone the shoot due to a nice sized goose-egg on the head of my little client that she endured after trying to rally the pups on top of the bed and instead threw her head back against the window sill:( Luckily, it was a friend and neighbor, and rescheduling was a cinch. In the midst of all the commotion, little Zoe decided to hide out in the dollhouse. The riley pup, you see, is bigger than Zoe and can’t fit:) Didn’t mean that the puppy didn’t try and try and try to get to Zoe, who by the way was raised in her early years surrounded by cats and is true to her nickname of Garfield the Cat. Have you ever known a dog to lick it’s paws and wipe it’s face with it’s paws? That would be Zoe. Have you ever known a dog to make feline hisses and growls at another dog, specifically a puppy that won’t stop barking and egging you on? That would be Zoe! Zoe aka Garfield:)
This shot was caught while mom was holding my little client on the bed, nursing her goose-egg and there was an ever so brief moment in time where said puppy pranced away from the dollhouse to check in on mom and daughter. In that instant, Zoe looked pleadingly in mom’s direction. I imagined her to be thinking something like this, “Come on mom, can’t you help a pug out?!”. And then as fast as I could snap the pic, the the puppy was back.
Shot info:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
50mm 1/60sec at f/ 1.4
ISO 160
Does your camera take great pictures? Well, have we got a coffee mug for you.
Can’t stop taking photos of your baby? There is a onesie for that.
Beyond Snapshots has teamed up with the AWESOME, fantastic,Jodi Walker, the talented designer behind Itch Design to come out with a line of fun, quirky, photo-themed goodies for your enjoyment. We are beyond thrilled with what she has come up with and we think you will love it too!
There is something for everyone. We love that all the American Apparel tees are organic and we are really excited about the cute SIGG bottles and the adorable journals (it will be perfect for jotting notes for our book!)
Announcing the winner of The Lola bag by Epiphanie!
#11 :: Janine Coveney
Congratulations, you are going to love that bag!
Thank you all for taking the time to enter this contest and for sharing your images! We love seeing people interpret a theme and we will be doing more of that soon.
This contest was a random draw for the winner, but looking through all the links, we found some amazing photographs and we wanted to share just a few of our favorites with everyone. Please enjoy some of the entries for the “red” theme!
Left Right
Jodi Palmer Tomi Omololu
Charlie Jones Vanessa
Candice Renee Corina
Maggie Otharan Tania
Lisa G Kelly West Mars
