Remove red skin from newborn pictures .. how?

Here's my contribution... I have a recent newborn also ( http://www.panark.com/lyndsey ) and I have a little experience removing blotchy patches. This may still be a little too red, but too little red and the baby doesn't look as worked up



Here's my approach (works well with most skin problems):

1. Use the Channel Mixer to create a nice looking grayscale image (set the image to Monochrome). Manipulate the green and blue channels to compensate for the unwanted coloration in the red channel. This really can't be scripted because it's a matter of taste. I think for this image I used R100, G40, B-10. Note that you will possibly lose some highlight detail... we'll get it back later.

2. Copy the original color image on top of the grayscale image (now you have two layers).

3. Change the color layer's setting from Normal to Color.

4. Modify Levels, additional saturation to taste.

5. Finally, copy the highlights from the original color image (CTRL-ALT- ) and create the topmost layer... set the opacity to as appropriate. That will return the highlight details, such as the almost white blanket folds in this image.

Jeff Adkisson
http://www.panark.com

Jeff, is there a way to reproduce this as an action? I have 100+ images that need to get the red out. Single file change will take me forever.

The results are great, exactly what I am looking for.

RPK said:

Here's an example of the my little red man. Yes, he was crying and
it did exagerate the redness but hey, it's a good example.

How can I automate a process to remove some of the red, not all? I
really want to lighten it up to a more pleasing pinkish.

Click to expand...

as request a light pink no other retouch

here is a simple action to do it
Link > http://gnn.home.mindspring.com/Photos/RedOut.atn



--
Paul

opps here is a working link........
http://gnn.home.mindspring.com/Photos/RedOut.atn
--
Paul

Paul, thanks for the action, I'l give it a shot tonight.

Thanks to everyone for the help

I liked Jeff Adkisson's method enough to do a variation on it:

Duplicate layers 2 times. using channel mixer, set middle layer to B&W, no color adjustments, gaussian blur at 3. Top layer to screen mode, then add an HSL adjustment layer and boost the saturation to 35 and lightness to 10.

That's it except I have not figured out how to bring the blanket details back yet...

I don't use PS so, some of these descriptions might be a little different.

I wrote a quick little action that about approximates what I did in the last image... I tend to work in Photoshop similar to the kitchen - a little pinch of this and a spoonful of that. So the results are approximate.

http://www.panark.com/posted/blotchy_baby_fix.atn



I wrote this for the image you posted, so hopefully it will work well for other images too... feel free to improve it. Enjoy.

Jeff Adkisson
http://www.panark.com
http://www.yellowfog.com

RPK said:

Jeff, is there a way to reproduce this as an action? I have 100+
images that need to get the red out. Single file change will take
me forever.

The results are great, exactly what I am looking for.

Click to expand...

select face-Hue/sat-hands can be done same way



cadmandew

Philo, that looks pretty good, and works on quite a few images at your exact settings.

I'll have to post a few once I get them corrected.

May I ask where you learned this color fix? Have you done it in the past or just come up with it now?

I have made great progress with the Selective Color (RED). I never touched that option and let me tell you, it does a great job. This will help me work it into an action where I don't have to "touch" each and every image. Meaning, not having to manipulate each image one at a time.

Thanks all for the help, I'll have to post a few images once I get done. Problem is, I keep taking more, and more, and more ...

Selective colour allows one to correct single colours that are off, where the overall colour looks good. It is the best method, in my opinion, for correcting cheap flat bed scanning colour artifacts. It has some advantages and disadvantages compared to hue/sat, and which you use is primarily a matter of preference. Unlike hue/sat, you can't control what "red" is. But you can subtract black or tweak the cmyk spectrum, unlike hue/sat. The method was developed a long time ago for correcting scan artifacts in isolated colour problems. It is used nowdays, for instance, to reduce the magenta bias in Nikon D1 photos.