Curvemeister Forum

Hi Greg,

I'm having trouble understanding what is wrong with this image when I try pinning it in rgb (it is okay in lab).

After setting the shadow and highlight point (towards the bottom of the blouse), what ever (issued) skin pin I then choose, things get worse - why would that be?

Thanks
Chris

Zog,

When I set a neutral on the blouse in RGB (see screen shot) the skin tones fall into the "reasonable" zone....
Was there more that you are trying to do to this image??  Am I missing something??

Greg

Ah Greg, I'm not explaining myself very well.

This is a reject image I was playing with as I'm organising a Photo Exhibition and one of the things I will attempt to do is to show off CM and generally try and get people in to post-processing.

Anyway I was looking for examples where there can be a real difference by just setting shadow and highlights.

The image below shows those 2 points, but I reckoned because of the various reflections/shadows on the blouse, that it was not worth setting a neutral.  I just thought I'd trying showing how effective skin pinning is, as the image becomes a bit too warm.

So set the points as I have and then see what the skin pins do - and the question is why does it muck everything up!?

Check two things....

Set the Pin Mode to Hue/Sat.  Turn off the brightness.

1 )Try setting the Skin pin first in RGB color is linked to brightness If you set the skin pin last it might drag a specific channel or channels..."red" down to the brightness setting on the pin. 

2) Shop the Pin around a bit and see if there is a better placement for it. 

BTW the blouse has a brighter highlight where I set mine.  I kept your shadow area though...
Greg

Okay, thanks Greg, I had a bash at that and ...
Yes I knew there was a lighter point on the blouse, but I reckoned there was no detail to be had in that spot, so I could blow it! 
But that is the answer (although I do not understand why) - If I use your highlight point all is okay - so trying to squeeze more light into the image makes the pin fail.

This simple snapshot is actually extremely hard - the walls are magnolia yellow, not greenish and the blouse is all white.  I think it is impossible to get right with simple curves.

I also would never had thought to go just next to the eye - I tried a dark cheek.  Still got a lot to learn.

Thanks
Chris

Chris,
I think it's more of a willingness to play around a bit rather than a lack of knowledge.  I choose the spot under the eye because it brought the most "correct" for lack of a better term correction to the skin of the other subjects but beware...that is a high makeup area....the woman looked like she was wearing little or no makeup so it seemed a fair bet.  I placed the pin with the hue clocks of the children more of a concern than the woman.

I would take multiple passes at the image at this point.  The back walls might be an easy RGB problem since they are darker than the skin tones and therefore you should be able to adjust without too much color shifting to the brighter areas..

This might be a good candidate for a By The Numbers correction. 

Greg

Just wanted to see how this correction stacked up.GregM

This is full by the numbers.

This is by the numbers done correctly,the shadow and hightlight thresholds moved in,not curved.