Colorblind photographers??? I don't know if it's an oxymoron, or just impossible, but my husband really wants to take a more aggressive role in the business. Right now, he doesn't feel like he can use photoshop at all, because he is red-green colorblind AND slightly blue-green colorblind.

I know colorblindness is more commonly a male trait, and with so many men on here, I'm wonding if any of you are colorblind? If so, how do you deal with editing/labwork? Do you just trust white-balance settings/photoshop/lightroom to be accurate??

Is he hopelessly stuck being my second shooter and accountant??

I am not color blind, but I imagine using the color selector tool would be invaluable to someone who was. If something is nuetral, it has an equal ammount of each color RGB, whites, greys & blacks. The same things we use to color correct images. By ajdusting the color levels in each of those ranges you can scientifcally color correct an image. And even if he is color blind in some areas perhaps he can still tell and see nuetral colors just fine.

Shoot exclusively in black and white--tell brides you have a very classic and enduring style

otherwise, I don't see why one couldn't shoot in RAW and then have some help with the editing later...

Stephen, good ideas... I am so not as technically savvy as you (and many others are) someday I hope to understand all that stuff!

I am not colour blind however my eyes do get tired sometimes after hours of editing. Tell your hubby to "colour correct by the numbers." There is a great book called "Photoshop Restoration & Retouching" by Katrin Eismann. In it, there is a chapter dedicated to colour correcting using standard values. She has set up a number of standardized values for different skin types and she lists them in her book. That would be a good starting point for him.

Further to that, Katrin suggests that if you are going to be doing a lot of colour correction for skin, that you set up a Photoshop document with a bunch of skin patches in it. That way you can just sample those patches when you need them and you don't have to worry about what you see on your monitor or not.

It's gotta be tough being colour blind but a lot of men are and they don't see it (no pun intended). Being in the print industry, I see it ALL the time.

Hope this helped!
Trevor

i AM color blind, I am red-green as well. But i have known since very young, so I've learned to adapt. I know which colors i can "see" and which I can't very well so my wife is an invaluable assistant.

Also - I pretty much do what has been suggested - color correcting by science - letting photoshop do the work.

I do the photoshop editing since once you get the colors adjusted, the other effects are pretty standard. But I know that once I've done the initial edits to have her look them over to make sure the colors and tones are all ok.

The key is to know your area of weakness and have someone help you. Or just do B&W and be artsy! But there is a LOT he can do - he just needs to start and see how it goes. He's prob been told most of his life he cant do anything like this. But it depends on how severe his color blindness is and what shades. Within my color shades, i'm EXTREMELY color blind. I dont necessarily go by what color I see, but by what I've learned that color to look like. Frankly I was amazed at how much I was able to do.

So tell him he is able to do more than second and assisting!! There is MUCH in photoshop he can do. Perhaps you need to do any skin retouching and he can learn and do some of the other photoshop effects, etc.

Feel free to have your husband PM me if he wants to talk more.

Thank you guys so much for your imput!!

TeeJay: I am gonna buy that book tomorrow for him! Thanks for the tip!!


Christina: I told him to just shoot BW as well, hahhaha!!

Mark: I will definity pass along your comments!! Thanks!!

You're very welcome Carrie!
Please pass along my best wishes to your husband! Remind him that he can do anything he puts his mind to. Also remind him that (from the sounds of it anyways) he has a pretty awesome wife!

Good luck!
Trevor