Thursday, January 8, 2009

Day 9: Noah, Skin, and The Deep Freeze

Pat is so funny! She thought Noah might be getting kind of bored when it issued the "seemingly interminably endless winter event" last week! I forgot to mention that Noah is actually NOAA, the North Atlantic Atmospheric Organization, and is a computer-generated voice. NOAA alternates between a male voice and female voice, and the male voice sounds like a cross between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steven Hawkings. Today, NOAA said we might get wind chills of 40 below in this next week, and "a cold weather warning may have to be issued." "MAY have to be issued!!!!!" If this doesn't result in a cold-weather warning, what exactly would?

Here's a photo taken of me and my daughter, on auto, with on-camera flash, in a restaurant about a month ago. I tried to play with the skin tones.



Last night, I liked it. Today, I don't know. My daughter's skin looks pretty good; maybe I need new skin. (And hair.)(Dang, it was after a long day of work.)(I think my husband's tired of hearing about this.)
But here is a tutorial, and a thread on 2peas, that I did find helpful in trying to establish a beginning point for skin tones. Now, my plan is to first try to adjust for color balance, whether it's with a WhiBal or custom white balance, or finding a neutral point in the photo. Then I'll try the smugmug settings in cmyk mode.

From this, I'll guess. I'll probably use a selection tool around skin areas and an adjustment layer, either selective coloring, or hue saturation.

Any HHCC most welcome!
http://www.smugmug.com/help/skin-tone

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&thread_id=2654510

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that photo is so cute! Your daughter is adorable...and so are you!
cari

CindyTykie said...

Great photo! You are both beautiful

Kristina said...

So impressed you got that with your on-camera flash! So pretty! A long time ago you asked me to share my photographic journey and how I've been improving my skill. I'm not sure how to sum it up...I'm flattered that you would ask! I'm going to post something on that soon...maybe tomorrow?

Mom2Drew said...

For on board flash, this color looks really good and not too flashy either. Great job!

Melissa said...

I don't think it looks flashy either. What a nice shot of the two of you.

Sharon said...

Looks good to me. Maybe I need new eyes. ;)

R.A. BNKetti said...

How adorable you two are!!! And you don't need new skin or new hair:)

Becky said...

I think you both look great. The skin tones don't look 'on-board flash' at all! Skin tones are a giant PITA, arent' they?
How are you liking the Stephen King book?
I am getting my POTD poster printed; I ordered it from Smugmug this morning.

pat said...

Angela, I love this shot of you and your daughter. I don't worry about skin tones because I rarely take photos of people...such a cop-out, I know. And I know that NOAA isn't a person, but the reports are so understated that you can just imagine a Mr. Peepers type trying to come up with a new way of stating the boringly obvious, or the distatefully, painfully obvious.

pakosta said...

awww so cute!
tara

Rachel @ The Little Blue Room said...

I think it is a really nice shot of the both of you. The flash didn't leave harsh flash spots and the skin tone isn't bad at all.

Becca said...

The pic looks good to me, too! What a great photo to have of the two of you!

Steph said...

That is a great capture of you too. Sometimes we mom/photogs don't get in the pics with our kids so good for you.

Jeanne said...

I honestly am not sure what problem you are having with skin tones, because to my very untrained eye, this looks terrific! I'd be celebrating the fact that I am in a photo with my daughter.

I don't have very many photos of my mom and me and she passed away in 1994, so the few I have are precious to me!

Reds said...

You both look beautiful!! I think your skins are fine! :)

Margaret said...

Love your description of Noah's voice. Too funny!

I love the shot of the two of you. I think it looks great! Skin, hair, everything! :)

Linnao said...

Very cute picture, a treasure to have!

HeyLady said...

I love reading your blog!

Cute glasses too.

Bobbi said...

That is such a cute picture of the two of you! Would have never guessed on board flash.

Thanks so much for the nice comments on my blog today. That really made me feel better about getting older. I don't know why I have this desire to stay young, I certainly feel in my early 20's. You are beautiful too!