Pleasing color for water in pools?

[marcchristopher]

Hi all,

I'm not sure, if this is the right place to ask, as most threads in this forum seem to be concerned with people and beauty retouching. I know no better place to ask my question, though...

I will probably be asked to retouch a few images with indoor and outdoor pools soon. The job will be very time-critical, so I wanna be prepared.
The clients wants the water in the pool to have a fresh and pleasing tone and there will be virtually no time available to have proofs done. Does anyone know a good rule of thumb for the CMYK values in this case? (You know, just like with skin tones: about 5% cyan, M ~ 3 * C, Y slightly higher than M...) Can you think of anything else that I will have to pay attention to?

I know, of course, that I can always eyeball it. However, I have never retouched water before, which is why I am a bit nervous: The photos will have to come out virtually perfect with no possibility for proofing.

Any help will be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Marc

[feppe]

Why don't you download a bunch of pool photos off the internet, and sample the most pleasing tones? Even better, ask the client beforehand to grade them for you.

[marcchristopher]

If only it could be that easy.

First of all, I'm afraid that even the images that I download from the net could come out wrong. Not because of calibration, but simply because the impression they make on a printed page could be totally different from their appearance on the screen. And even if three persons like them, some "expert" might later say, "oh no, that's not how that's supposed to be done".
Second, my (potential) client will probably want to hand the decision over to me. He will look at the final images on screen, of course, before they are printed. But if something goes wrong I'm still the one to blame.

I would really feel much better, if I could rely on more concrete guidelines for the hue.

[feppe]

If you're working on a calibrated workflow (and you must if you want accurate color) it doesn't matter where you get the sample images. You can softproof the shots as well, and if you have time, run test prints with them to see the final result before you get the job files.

[Daviskw]

I would be more concerned about the correct luminosity then color...At least when I took the shot.

You must be careful of glare or darkness or it will be difficult to change the color convincingly.

If you shoot taking the waters luminosity into consideration them changing the color to suit the client will be easy.

Butch