Before and After from Alisha Robertson – Newborn Photographer

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buy-for-blog-post-pages-600-wide Before and After from Alisha Robertson - Newborn Photographer Guest Bloggers Photoshop Actions Photoshop Tips

Alisha Robertson of AGR Photography, a phenomenal newborn photographer, and occasional guest blogger here, recently attended the MCP Color Fixing Workshop. Her work is outstanding but she knew that occasionally she would have an off shot that needed color work. After attending the online group training, here is what she had to say…

So normally my images straight out of camera are not this bad. BUT… occasionally it happens. Most of the time I toss them and go to something better but I could not toss this shot. It was sharp enough and I loved it so much. So I started working on it and was getting nothing I liked. A few weeks ago I too Jodi’s (MCP Actions) color correction class online and at the time I didn’t think I would need the tools she taught me but I tell you, it has saved so many images I would have tossed.

img_9857 Before and After from Alisha Robertson - Newborn Photographer Guest Bloggers Photoshop Actions Photoshop Tips
With this image I started in RAW and really pulled the WB blue / yellow down to blue, which made it pink so then I pulled the magenta/ green back to green. I stopped just before I started seeing green. At this point it still wasn’t perfect but I could see a good color image appearing.

img_9859raw Before and After from Alisha Robertson - Newborn Photographer Guest Bloggers Photoshop Actions Photoshop Tips
Then I went to Photoshop and started using masks and some of the tricks Jodi taught me. I used a saturation layer to make the background white again (it had picked up the green in the RAW adjustment) and used a brightness contrast layer to brighten it. I then used another saturation layer to get rid of some bright red spots in the creases. I just inverted the mask and painted back over the red spots to do this.

I then fixed some spots on his face and ran portraiture at a low opacity. The end result while not PERFECT is definitely something I feel comfortable showing my client. While this is not something that I would want to do for every image when you get that one that you think is just awesome and don’t want to toss it is invaluable to know how to manipulate RAW and JPEG images. I want to add that I could not have done this if I had been shooting JPEG. I tried and it just would not correct in a JPEG format. I had to do the big adustments in RAW and then tweak in PS. Just one more reason I love RAW.

And if you really want to learn how to do this type of color correction go and take Jodi’s class. Well worth the money!!!

img_9859 Before and After from Alisha Robertson - Newborn Photographer Guest Bloggers Photoshop Actions Photoshop Tips

I shot this at ISO 1000, 2.0 and 1/200

And why you ask is the color so bad? Because it was a rainy day and I was TOO lazy to pull out my light. So I was trying to push the camera to use the small amount of light I had. Probably not smart.

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  1. keri on August 12, 2009 at 9:42 am

    It turned out great! ISO 1,000!

  2. Lori M. on August 12, 2009 at 11:19 am

    Thank you so much Alisha!! I had an image just like this that I was struggling with today and thanks to your help I was able to save it!! It has been a couple of months since I took the Color Fixing class and I guess I had just forgotten what I needed to do. I guess I need a a mini refresher course?!? 😉 Thanks again to both Jodi and Alisha!!

  3. Lincy Jarowski on August 12, 2009 at 12:23 pm

    Alisha, At ISO 1000 how did you take care of the noise. Wow! it looks like it was shot at a 200 ISO. A tutorial on noise would be awesome.

  4. Karen Baetz on August 12, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    Alisha, beautiful photo! I love it when photographers share their settings for specific photos – I always learn from that. My question is: if your iso was 1000, why don’t we see any noise (maybe it shows in the original photo?) – did you run anything to fix the noise?

  5. MCP Actions on August 12, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    I will see if I can get Alisha to come here and answer – but she does shoot with a 5D MKII, which is amazing for dealing with noise. Also the closer to perfect your exposure, the less noise you will have.I am not sure if she uses noiseware. I do. If you look on my blog towards the top – there is a 20% off code by clicking on the banner to purchase noiseware. It does an amazing job!Jodi

  6. Terry Lee on August 12, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    Is using portraiture similar to using Jodi’s Magic Skin action? What are the differences? Alisha….your photo is precious…and I think it is perfect…babies are perfection your feeling for this imageis right on the money!

  7. Carrie V. on August 12, 2009 at 10:02 pm

    We are too often our worst critic, especially when we have a vision for a picture and it doesn’t turn out the way we envisioned it. Having said that, I think this picture is just breathtaking and I can’t imagine any parent not instantly falling in love with it! Don’t be so hard on yourself, Alisha.

  8. Alisha Robertson on August 12, 2009 at 10:38 pm

    Thanks everyone… I do love this image so much and that is why I knew I had to save it. As for the noise at ISO 1000 I think Jodi answered it. With the 5D Mark II ISO 1000 is really nothing. As long as you get a good exposure it doesn’t show much noise. I did not run noiseware on this either. And in the original there is not a ton of it. For some reason my WB just went wonky. I am glad this helped you guys.

  9. Jennifer Hardin on August 13, 2009 at 8:47 am

    Ok last but not least I shouted out on twitter about the contest. outnumberedby04Jennifer Hardin

  10. Toki on August 13, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    This image is yummy! I cannot believe how beautifully it turned out, especially when compared to the image SOCC. I just may have to sign up for Jodi’s class too. Thanks for sharing!

  11. Shoustytotcox on December 6, 2009 at 9:23 pm

    I don’t know If I said it already but …Great site…keep up the good work. 🙂 I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks, :)A definite great read..

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