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Various cultures may respond to color differently but that is a separate and worthy issue to investigate in another forum. Photographers often talk about visual contrast in an image---how about emotional contrast. The pleasant expression and beauty and serenity of the model creates a positive emotional response in the viewer, the yellow-green cast of her skin is associated with sickness and unhealthiness and creates a negative emotional response---thus, for me, Ditmar has created an emotional contrast and contradiction in this work. It is up to each viewer to decide if this contrast and contradiction has artistic meaing and value.

Lighting and composition are really nice. Beautiful model too. I love the curve of her hat as part of the composition. For a studio shot it still has a fairly natural feel to it, rather than "forced."

John, it may work that way for you, but in this particular photo I don't make that association nor do I have a negative emotional response; therefore, I see no emotional contrast or contradiction. Individual interpretation starts earlier than you have suggested.

I see your point, Stephen. Some of the appeal of the picture is the subtle quality of tone and color, so even if the color is "off" it still looks somehow appropriate. I think John has the right idea but just went too far with contrast and saturation and added a heaviness to the picture. To maintain the delicacy of the image the correction must be just as delicate. Here I offer a humble attempt. Mine differs from Landrum's as I added half his value of Mag and added half red and pulled the saturation back about 30%.

Since we are discussing the color here, I would again suggest that what we see on-line may not be what Dimitar was after. If you set your PS color settings to "ask when profile is missing" and then open this image without forcing a profile on it, the image opens with a beautiful and soft tonal structure that is actually very pleasing. John's version here is very harsh by comparison to the soft enveloping light I see in PS or in the original here--in PS it is just that the skin color becomes more what we would expect.

I will also say that I am not totally put off by the green cast I see here. It is a bit much, but it also does impart an aged feeling. It may be my own experiences here though as I get hits from the coloration of visiting my grandparents home when I was a child.

If I sounded otherwise above, I do find this image attractive for what it is and what it represents. I don't think it is totally void of feeling but I don't think it goes "art" deep. It is a very nice portrait of this young woman. My biggest issue is the inattention--at the shoot or in post--to some of the styling issues with the hair. These are distracting--some more than others, you can live with some--and something that needs to be paid attention to and maybe one of the toughest things to control while shooting.

I am posting the image without any manipulation--just opened in PS without forcing a profile on it and then converting it to srgb. Have no idea if this will translate, but here it is:

(Looking after uploading this, it is pretty close but is still a bit more green than I see in PS, but very close otherwise)

Thanks John, that was very helpful. I did what you suggest and agree that the tonality of the image is very nice. I have found if you convert to black and white this makes it easier to perceive the "tonal" quality of an image independent of the perceptual effects of color. The green is an issue in the background but in the skin, I think it's a bit too yellow. At least that's what my software is telling me.

IMO, these "vacant" expressions don't work terribly well in the studio. I find myself trying to imagine what studio context would lead to such an expression and usually I end up at something insincere. Best, JJ

Just a technical tip to those who care about such things.

Moving sliders around, almost any in any adjustment layer or type, will generally change the image in more ways than just the color balance. In most cases here, the contrast has changed and the softness of the image has been somewhat compromised. But there is a way in cases like this to move the color and not affect the quality of light or contrast.

Put an empty layer over the image and then fill it with the opposite color of the one you want to correct. In this case, if you want to remove cyan, which mixed with yellow creates the green, then you fill the box with pure red. If you also want to reduce the yellow, then use something that moves towards magenta (blue removes yellow and magenta removes green=yel+cyan). Anyway, then change the blending of the layer to "color" from "normal" and reduce the opacity of the layer to a very small number--like generally under 5%. I found this image sang when I didn't force a profile on it when I opened it and then added 2% opacity of a red layer--of course, you can mask this out of areas you don't want to change if you so desire.

I will often correct color balance that is much more extreme than this in this way. Like most of these things, it doesn't work in every case but is pretty much the first place I go when I have something to color correct--spot correction or overall.

This is an exquisite portrait. There is little to critique as the image as a whole captures the essence of what I look for in imagery: Expression, exposure and timelessness. You have it all here. Bravo!

Very beautiful photo, crisp and clean while maintaining that angelic simplicity. Check out my photos and leave any advice I am new to photography. Thanks guys.

This is indeed a graceful, well lit pose of a beautiful model.  I do however have to agree with Ben, the green cast on the skin detracts from the overall beauty of the image.

Les W.

I like the composition and the delicate color scheme in this portrait too. I'm with Stephen on the skin color: I prefer the original to the adjustments I've seen so far.
Mike

I think I like Louis Meluso's version the best. Getting the correct balance is one thing, but, as Louis says, it is then necessary to pull back on the saturation.

Fred, thanks for your helpful comments. I need all the help I can get when it comes to using Photoshop--especially on skin tones.

--Lannie

It is a lovely photograph whose lovely subject if rendered with a soft and yet powerful stage presence.

It's interesting to see all the responses to the colour cast. Colour DOES play a part in emotional response, black and white images are

a classic example of this. We tone our black and white images with various hues, we succeed when we understand why we are doing

it and understand what the colour cast will produce. Green typically produces a positive emotional response. But I agree with John

Webster that a green yellow gives an emotional response implying sickness. This image to me does not evoke that feeling. It may in

another subject, but with a portrait I think we would equate a blue grey colour with sickness. This is what is revealed when people

have poor health and blood does not reach the extremities.

To that end I find the colour cast with a slight green tinge works for me in presenting a relaxed atmosphere. I also agree there is a

staged feel to the image, while she looks relaxed and comfortable, she looks very staged. For these reasons the image is somewhat

lacking depth. There is not a great deal to stimulate after the initial glance and wonder at the colour cast.

Richard, did you try what John A suggested? I found that he was right. The image really came alive with a 2% red colour layer over it. JJ

While I'm a bit cautious in making assessment of subtle color changes by way of a relatively small photograph on my monitor, and while I don't find Dimitar's original to be disagreeable, I do like what I see on my screen when looking at the subtle changes provided by Louis and the slight difference in John A's profile change. I haven't tried John's suggest addition of red, but based on Jeremy's conclusion I have no doubt it will be an improvement. This POW has been valuable to me regarding subtle color shifts with respect to skin color -- we're natural tuned to skin color, and subtle changes can be quite striking. I'd be most interested to hear from Dimitar as to whether he was aware of these issues and perhaps tried some of these subtle changes before deciding on the one he posted, and for what reasons. Gaining insight into the thought process and reasons behind decisions (regardless of whether I agree) is just as interesting to me as looking at different variations.

Here we are on page four and only one person has not commented on the colour but the composition ... an interesting attitudinal bias? Since I know I am colour deficient I never comment on colour but leave it to those who feel competant to do so.

I hesitate to criticise a very competant photographer and a magnificent image which I admire greatly, but I did wonder at the format of the photo .... has the photographer shown us what his camera gave him [ V 3:2 ] becuase it did that, or maybe he composed to suit the camera, while I spotted what seems an improvement to me when scrolling and only saw part of the image? One of those few 'long lens' Rollieflex cameras would have led to a better result?

I am an amateur photographer. I'm starting in the photography world. My first works discuss mainly the lives of people in cities. I live in Brasilia, the administrative capital of Brazil. I try to record, too, the best angles of modern monuments that grace the city. I have no experience in portraying models, but I appreciate a good picture. From the standpoint of the observer, the picture in question has adequate lighting, tending to the green, highlighting the beautiful shape of the face of the model. Excellent sharpness, highlighting beautiful lips perfectly delineated. The hat provides a romantic mood. The surface of the bust overcomes the force of melancholy that should have greater prominence. In my humble opinion, the size of the brim of the hat should be reduced and the mouth of the model should be near the center of the picture, on the alignment of the diagonal. This position would point over the face, melancholy and beautiful shape of the mouth of the model. However, the positioning of the model adopted by the photographer does not compromise the excellence of the work.

I'm seeing more of this 'tinted' style lately on sites like 500px. Dimitar uploaded this image in 2008. Is he a trend setter? The appeal might be that the viewer senses that something is different and is drawn in yet there are no major compromises.
I'm thankful that Dimitar attracted my attention.

I agree Steve. Even if I can't full articulate the preference, this nice face study appeals to me with a more warm spectral cast too, close to Meluso's offering perhaps or in that region. ( Maybe I see in fluorescent spectral casts in the mirror lately where look more and more like the dessicated nobleman from Transsyllvania -than I want these days :-))

You are looking so hot in your picture.

This is an outstanding portrait.

Holding the attention and interest of the viewer

As a viewer, I linger soaking up the details, ponder her expression, her gaze, the curls of her hair, the texture of her hat, …

Composition

Excellent posing. The tilt of the head nicely complements the sweeping curve of her hat. The hat's color complements that of the background and her shirt/top.

Lighting

Beautiful use of shadow on her left cheek and nose to give dimensionality to her face, and is in turn her left cheek is nicely framed by her dark hair. The shadow under the brim gives dimensionality to her right cheek without putting her right eye into a "dark socket".

 The lighting gives (to me) a stronger emphasis on her nose and lips, a contrast to the conventional approach of emphasizing the subject's eyes. In this case, I think it works very well, as those are beautiful features.

 The halogen lights modified by the paper worked well to evoke window light!

Color

Several comments have been made about the green cast. Did you  try rendering this image in monochrome? Might be interesting to try (if you haven't already) experimenting with different monochrome effects...