Problems printing photos of people - Portraits

[Bear Dale]

I've been doing a lot of printing lately and everything from flowers, landscapes, pets and still life etc come out 'picture perfect' the only exception are photos of peoples faces which nearly always print out with a reddishness to their faces.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I've tried printing through Windows, Canon software and Lightroom and the same ruddiness/redness is always exhibited.

[Steve Axford]

Have you calibrated your monitor?

[Wayne]

I suspect a non-calibrated workflow, but are your landscapes etc looking very close to the prints? If not then calibration is most likely, however if the landscapes match closely, then perhaps the printer (if a lab) is printing on a different printer and they have poor workflow?

Tried soft proofing? Do you print on same paper for all styles?

More info needed...

[Bear Dale]

Hi Steve & Wayne

Monitor isn't calibrated, but everything except portraits (peoples faces always print with a very pronounced ruddy/redness) comes out perfectly the same as what I see on my monitor.


This (granted not the worlds greatest people photo!) will print with very reddish complexions -




Where as these will print identical to what I see on my monitor -

[Wayne]

In #2/3 there isn't alot of red, where the skin is full of it.

To my 3 calibrated monitors, the family image shows the male with overly red skin tones.

I think the calibration may be an issue.

[Steve Axford]

Our vision is tuned to human faces. Any errors there will be obvious, but will go unnoticed in landscapes. Monitor calibration is crucial, particularly if you want to print.

[arthurking83]

Try toning down the contrast and saturation levels in your images of humans.
Like Steve said, it's more obvious in humans because we expect to see them in a particular way.

[Bear Dale]

Appreciate the replies and the advice everyone. It's something that I really need to fix because it's truly buggingly annoying.

[Wayne]

Just wondering if you are adding alot of contrast on your portraits? That will increase the reds in skin somewhat, but you would see it on the monitor....just thinking out loud.

[Bear Dale]

Just wondering if you are adding alot of contrast on your portraits? That will increase the reds in skin somewhat, but you would see it on the monitor....just thinking out loud.

Wayne, mate I appreciate any thoughts on this and thanks for any help or ideas you can shed on this for me.


What is weird is that if I open up an image in LR or PS they look very slightly different in colour. If I open up the image using Canons propriety PHOTOPRINT EX the image looks completely different yet again to LR & PS.


Here is the image SOOC (just down sized and saved as JPG) -




File Name IMG_7297.CR2
Camera Model Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Firmware Firmware Version 2.0.4
Shooting Date/Time 7/05/2013 3:20:38 PM
Shooting Mode Tv
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/60
Av( Aperture Value ) 4.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 400
Auto ISO Speed ON
Lens EF50mm f/1.4 USM
Focal Length 50.0mm
Image Size 5616x3744
Image Quality RAW
Flash On
Flash Type External E-TTL
E-TTL II flash metering Evaluative flash metering
Flash Exposure Compensation 0
Shutter curtain sync 1st-curtain sync
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Focus AF
Picture Style Standard
Sharpness 3
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Standard
Highlight tone priority 0isable
Auto Lighting Optimizer 0:Standard
Peripheral illumination correction Enable
Dust Delete Data No
File Size 25858KB
Drive Mode Single shooting
Live View Shooting OFF
Camera Body No. 0930601722

[Wayne]

Check that LR and PS are using the same colour space. You may find by default LR us using ProphotoRGB, and PS isn't.

You may find Canon's software using AdobeRGB, or another different colour space. That would be a viable reason you are seeing different looks in different software, and also the default settings if any that are applied to an image upon opening it in the different applications.

the most recent post of the family to me appears to have less contrast and is more neutral than the earlier version.

[Bear Dale]

Wayne I can see that LR is using ProphotoRGB, but I've looked and looked in PS and cannot for the life of me see what colour space PS is using.

- - - Updated - - -

Uh duh!

Found it in 'Colour Settings' and PS is using sRGB

- - - Updated - - -

edit: and my camera is set to sRGB

[mongo]

Mongo would set everything to sRGB unless you are a real Adobe person

BTW that bluey dog image is sensational !