# Get rid of flaming red ears?



## BigG123 (Oct 12, 2011)

Hey guys, first time on the forum and I just have a small question. I have a picture of myself (below) and as you may see, it's a decent photo except my ears are extremely red. How can I get it so my ears dont look like they're about 500 degrees? I do have photoshop and tried toying around with the setting with no avail, so if any of you experienced phototographers could give me some tips (or even fix it for me) it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks


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## philsphoto (Oct 12, 2011)

There a re quite a few ways to handle this one.  I chose the following technique...

1) Create duplicate layer
2) Image - Adjustments - Hue & Saturation - Chose Reds and desaturate by 20ish

At this point the whole image has less red, no good, so I...

3) Added Black Layer mask
4) Painted white on the layer mask over the ears with a soft brush at 15% opacity
5) Lowered layer opacity to 75

I did not want to select the ears, I just ended up painting a less red copy of the ears over the redness.  Since this image is backlit, red ears are normal, so I left a little red in them.  I also added a little bump in contrast.




wpgyr by Phil's Photography, on Flickr


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## kundalini (Oct 12, 2011)

Certainly the ears are red, but you don't mention the blown out top of your head, which is just a bad, if not worse.  DIFUSSER..... that is the watchword.  A (large) difusser will soften the incoming light source in this instance....... a one and a half stop minimal.  You're probably looking at at least a 6'x8' for this situation.  In additional to the difusser, you'll also want a reflector to brighten the subject's front-side (face) from the back lighting.


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## kundalini (Oct 12, 2011)

philsphoto said:


> There a re quite a few ways to handle this one........


I've only read a few of Phil's replies and it sounds as they may be resurrecting in post mostly the dead.  If pre-production is attended to, these types of efforts may be lessened or unnecessary.  Nothing against Phil, he obviously knows a thing or two, it's just that I don't bother all that much with intrinsic post production stuff.  Again, nothing pointed to those that do a lot of post production.  Color me lazy.


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## Geaux (Oct 12, 2011)

Just dodge the ears a little bit at like 18%


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## philsphoto (Oct 12, 2011)

Kundalini,

I couldn't agree with you more on getting it right at the time of the shoot.  It makes all the difference in the world on the photograph.  It doesn't look to me like a fill flash was used on this image.  To the photographer, if you do not have lighting equipment or reflectors you should make a trip to a Hobby store.  Get one of those foam core poster boards and reflect light onto your subject.  Photography is all about capturing light!


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## EchoingWhisper (Oct 13, 2011)

How do you overcome it when you are taking the photography? Not any post-production though.


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## KmH (Oct 13, 2011)

EchoingWhisper said:


> How do you overcome it when you are taking the photography? Not any post-production though.



Read this again....



kundalini said:


> Certainly the ears are red, but you don't mention the blown out top of your head, which is just a bad, if not worse.  DIFUSSER..... that is the watchword.  A (large) difusser will soften the incoming light source in this instance....... a one and a half stop minimal.  You're probably looking at at least a 6'x8' for this situation.  In additional to the difusser, you'll also want a reflector to brighten the subject's front-side (face) from the back lighting.



You can use a diffuser.


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## arcooke (Oct 14, 2011)

You could always just add more hair.









If you want to PM the original to me, I can try to get the redness out.. then explain what tools/techniques I ended up using.


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## TamiAz (Oct 14, 2011)

arcooke said:


> You could always just add more hair.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



 Thanks for the chuckle!


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## Buckster (Oct 15, 2011)

BigG123 said:


> Hey guys, first time on the forum and I just have a small question. I have a picture of myself (below) and as you may see, it's a decent photo except my ears are extremely red. How can I get it so my ears dont look like they're about 500 degrees? I do have photoshop and tried toying around with the setting with no avail, so if any of you experienced phototographers could give me some tips (or even fix it for me) it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks








How I did it:
Create Hue/Saturation layer.
 Mask off all but way red parts of the ears.
Desaturate to taste (I went to -50 for this).


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## HomelessBoy (Oct 15, 2011)

TamiAz said:


> arcooke said:
> 
> 
> > You could always just add more hair.
> ...



LOL @ this.


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