Skin Tones

UaeExile

UaeExile

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Adam
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Someone please tell me what the big secret is to getting these right before I smash my desk up :dummy:
 
UaeExile said:
To be honest I think that's bloody good advice!
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It was born of my own frustrations, especially with one Bride & Groom whose skin tones were so far apart making one look 'normal' made the other look ridiculous, so in the end I just tried for a pleasant enough WB and that was that

Then of course every Bride has her face 'made-up' but her neck & arms are a different colour, as are the Bridesmaids, blah blah

I'd only ever really bother now if shooting an individual set of portraits for MY use, an olive skinned client may not like me 'correcting' that so, generally, I just don't worry about it any more

Dave
 
DG Phototraining said:
It was born of my own frustrations, especially with one Bride & Groom whose skin tones were so far apart making one look 'normal' made the other look ridiculous, so in the end I just tried for a pleasant enough WB and that was that

Then of course every Bride has her face 'made-up' but her neck & arms are a different colour, as are the Bridesmaids, blah blah

I'd only ever really bother now if shooting an individual set of portraits for MY use, an olive skinned client may not like me 'correcting' that so, generally, I just don't worry about it any more

Dave
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The problem is I've been looking at someone elses work (I know...) and he continually nails skin tones every time and it's almost became a signature of his work. Don't get me wrong, good light, good glass etc etc etc... But there must be something in post going on as well.
 
I feel your pain. I've spent ages b*ggering about with skin tones - and stuffing them up. it's one reason I use a calibrated target when I've got the time.

Even then after a few minutes looking at a pic I start to question my own judgement and sanity. Though like Dave I try to worry less these days.

I reckon that if I get the midtones green value midway between the red and blue values - or slightly lower - then that's a good starting point. Don't sample from the cheeks, though, they tend to be pinker.

I use lots of methods for tweaking colours.. sometimes in conjunction with blend_ifs.

Curves, esp targeted curves adjustments
Selective colour
Colour balance
Solid colour fill layers
Brushes in hue or colour mode
Hue/saturation adjustments, again targeted to particular colours.
Frequency separation

This looks useful, I haven't tried it yet
https://fstoppers.com/education/gradient-map-perfect-skin-color-61864

This kinda works but is a lot of pfaff:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRSCoFjGajM


This makes the point that it's often about pleasing rather than accurate colours and includes some representative CMYK values:
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93363-how-do-i-correct-skin-tones-

Here's a way of doing it in LR:
https://pixelationblog.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/correcting-skin-color-skin-tones-in-lightroom/

One way of removing redness from phlearn:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecMMp6Fc_Xg


hth
 
DG Phototraining said:
It was born of my own frustrations, especially with one Bride & Groom whose skin tones were so far apart making one look 'normal' made the other look ridiculous, so in the end I just tried for a pleasant enough WB and that was that
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juggler said:
Even then after a few minutes looking at a pic I start to question my own judgement and sanity. Though like Dave I try to worry less these days.
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I just want to thank you 2 for posting these statements. Sometimes I have struggled and struggled, loosing confidence the more I look at an image.. At last I know its not just me! You have no idea how less lonely I now feel :-)
 
I typically use a levels adjustment layer in PS. The white and black eyedroppers actually set the selected point to white and black (unlike LR)... usually there is something in a photo that should at least be one or the other, maybe just a catchlight in the eye. I then reduce the white output level to something below 255 (235-245 typically) and adjust gamma, then mask/adjust the layer to suit. Sometimes if you set both white *and* black the results will be a little different/better depending on which you set first. Typically, if white and black are both set to true white/black, then everything else is also "true to color." But it doesn't work 100% of the time, and it's not always "pleasing," even if it is correct.

I wouldn't want to have to do this for a large number of pics such as an entire wedding shoot. You can also use a levels adjustment for each color channel, but this is even more time consuming...
 
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At the risk of getting butchered, because people have linked his work before and I know "this won't make me xxxx xxxxxx"

This is what I'm talking about: http://www.rossharvey.com/weddings/best-wedding-photographer-2016

I've linked his "best of" because it shows a number of different skin types and tones that just seem to have an impossible level of consistency. Pale bordering on golden... If that makes sense?
 
It would not beyond the wit of man to have a library of Ideal skin tones and match images to them.
But life is too short.
 
UaeExile said:
At the risk of getting butchered, because people have linked his work before and I know "this won't make me xxxx xxxxxx"

This is what I'm talking about: http://www.rossharvey.com/weddings/best-wedding-photographer-2016

I've linked his "best of" because it shows a number of different skin types and tones that just seem to have an impossible level of consistency. Pale bordering on golden... If that makes sense?
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I've no idea what his process is but it looks a bit like he's desaturated slightly before toning with a film effect preset. That could tend to make all the skin look consistent.
I couldn't resist having a quick try on this snap of Mrs Juggler..

Desaturate 15%, add some cyan, blue & green to the shadows, some red & yellow to the mid tones and some yellow to the highlights with a colour balance layer. Then crush the shadows & highlights with curves.

His process is obviously more refined than this but I think it makes her skin tones look more even and less red. And it would be easy to do in a batch process for a wedding.

skintones.jpg
 
sk66 said:
Maybe I'm not seeing the same thing? I think maybe you are talking more about "exposure" rather than "tone" as such...
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Perhaps. Do you know what I mean by pasty but golden though?
 
juggler said:
I've no idea what his process is but it looks a bit like he's desaturated slightly before toning with a film effect preset. That could tend to make all the skin look consistent.
I couldn't resist having a quick try on this snap of Mrs Juggler..

Desaturate 15%, add some cyan, blue & green to the shadows, some red & yellow to the mid tones and some yellow to the highlights with a colour balance layer. Then crush the shadows & highlights with curves.

His process is obviously more refined than this but I think it makes her skin tones look more even and less red. And it would be easy to do in a batch process for a wedding.

View attachment 91249
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I don't really think it looks like a film preset. Certainly not like any I've seen and I've played a lot with VSCO and Mastin. If anything I'd say the colours are more saturated/vibrant than most wedding photographers these days.
 
UaeExile said:
I don't really think it looks like a film preset. Certainly not like any I've seen and I've played a lot with VSCO and Mastin. If anything I'd say the colours are more saturated/vibrant than most wedding photographers these days.
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Maybe not, but the blacks are certainly crushed and look to have a bluish tint to me and I'm pretty sure the midtones have some yellows in them. Given he's doing weddings I'd be surprised if he hadn't created some kind of preset or action to automate the process.
 
If you can get a tone or look right in lightroom, its very easy to then apply it to a chosen set. A moments work.

The wedding photographer my friend hired tinted everything slightly pink, which gave a consistency to the (nice) set, though after a large number of images it can get a bit wearing as things can sometimes get a bit too much the same tone. Ever since, anything sort of a shell pink in shade is now referred to as "Rapkins Pink" in this household :-)
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
It would not beyond the wit of man to have a library of Ideal skin tones and match images to them.
But life is too short.
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There's only one skin tone - that's why video scopes and colour grading software have a skin tone line.

It's only saturation and luminance that change.
 
st599 said:
There's only one skin tone - that's why video scopes and colour grading software have a skin tone line.

It's only saturation and luminance that change.
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There are thousands of skin tones, they vary as to colour. transparency, brightness and texture. they vary by part of body and even in detail. they vary by race sex and age and life style.
 
st599 said:
Then why is there one skin tone line on a vectorscope that is used to correct skin tone for all human subjects in an image?
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I have No Idea, as I do not have a vectorscope... but I suggest you do as he does, and adjust the hue and saturation. It works for him.
 
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Terrywoodenpic said:
I have No Idea, as I do not have a vectorscope... but I suggest you do as he does, and adjust the hue and saturation. It works for him.
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I'll just carry on bunging skin tone on the skin tone line - works really well and takes a matter of seconds.
 
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