I'm spending way too long in photoshop, endlessly adjusting magenta, yellow and cyan values in search of pleasing skin tones. I need something that is repeatable so I can re-apply it like a formula to my studio shots. Is there an easier way? I really hope so!
Only if you have several shots with the same lighting conditions. Then you can copy your curves adjustment layer the each image and double check your values. If you make sure to do it in a seperate layer then you can still tweak everything on each mage you copy to.
If you find a magic bullet plug-in or something for skin tone let us know.
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-John Sarcasm, frustrating the clueless since 3000 b.c.
Dave, it all starts with proper lighting, once you nail that, all will be well.
In camera, make sure you DO NOT use AUTO W/B You need to know what Kelvin for the time of day, that takes a bit of practice, nail that, you're whistling Dixie.
Dave, it all starts with proper lighting, once you nail that, all will be well.
In camera, make sure you DO NOT use AUTO W/B You need to know what Kelvin for the time of day, that takes a bit of practice, nail that, you're whistling Dixie.
Mike, this is for studio lighting, I shoot raw and open them in Adobe camera raw. I use the white balance tool to set white balance and indeed they look white. However, at this point the skin tones look too magenta hence lots of tweaking in cs3. I finally get there, but can't possibly remember how so I can't repeat it!
Have the model hold a gray card for the first shot. That's your baseline for setting the colors. In changing conditions I use auto whitebalance but I shoot raw so its pretty easy to fix. In studio start by putting your balance to flash or sun then change the number warmer or cooler to taste.
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Have the model hold a gray card for the first shot.
I carry a scanner color target to do the same thing. It's got a gray scale, but I like having the colors available too. And for some reason whoever holds it for me feels the need to make a face when I take the test shot.
Yep, all camera settings need to be neutral, at least I prefer it that way. I used to do a custom white balance with a grey color balance target, it folded up like a reflector to about 6" diameter, so it's easy to pack around with you. Then I would also shoot a reference photo with a Gretag color balance card that has a white, gray, and black stripe on it. Shooting RAW, this became a little overkill in my opinion, so now I use the Auto WB and just shoot the white/gray/black card in each lighting setup/situation. I then use that and the dropper in ACR to balance all my images. This seems to work very well most of the time, just make absolutely certain that the card is flat to the camera.
I like the idea of the color chart like Ryan mentions however, because you can get charts that will give you the RGB values of each square, then you could actually sample a couple of the colors as well as the gray squares and dial everything in from there. This could be handy for very precise commercial work, however it may be a little much for general portraiture. Of course, there are certainly some very discerning portraitists out there that would argue you should dial in perfectly, and with good reason, so you may even want to go to that extreme as well.
Here is a video that I think is helpful for using curves to color correct, but it also does some specific correction on skin tones as well.
Also, here is a document from the same site that gives some good starting points for skin tone colors. One of the most valuable things I got from this was how to use the color sampler, so at least that will give you some valuable information, I think.
This could be handy for very precise commercial work, however it may be a little much for general portraiture. Of course, there are certainly some very discerning portraitists out there that would argue you should dial in perfectly, and with good reason, so you may even want to go to that extreme as well.
Agreed. I've never used anything other than gray, but I like having the option if it's needed. Plus, it gives me something to do while everybody else is getting ready.
Thanks all for the great info, it's been very helpful. My camera by the way is a Canon 20d and I still think that with the white balanced perfectly it produces magenta skin tones.
The custom grey card thing is a good idea. One thing you could try with images you have already taken is to create an action in Photoshop by correcting one image and record what you do and then apply it to each image. If you have lightroom you can do it this way as well. It's more time consuming, but less so than correcting each image and then trying to match it to the last one.
Thanks all for the great info, it's been very helpful. My camera by the way is a Canon 20d and I still think that with the white balanced perfectly it produces magenta skin tones.
Is your monitor calibrated?
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-John Sarcasm, frustrating the clueless since 3000 b.c.
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