Color balancing skin .. any secrets ???

W
Posted By
wdflannery
Nov 24, 2003
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661
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Closed
I’ve read Eismann …. but still am shaky when it comes to adjusting skin tones ….. usually I don’t worry about it …. but I made some shots with late afternoon window light ….and it seems difficult to eyeball the necessary adjustments.

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J
jenelisepasceci
Nov 24, 2003
(Wdflannery) wrote:

I’ve read Eismann …. but still am shaky when it comes to adjusting skin tones …. usually I don’t worry about it …. but I made some shots with late afternoon window light ….and it seems difficult to eyeball the necessary adjustments.
Eyball is a good point. A simple first step is to use the white in the eye of the model as a reference point for neutral grey 😉 Peter
W
wdflannery
Nov 24, 2003
Just my luck ….. her eyes (new baby) are closed …. a great tip though!
TN
Tom Nelson
Nov 24, 2003
Skin tones vary a lot even among racial groups. Here are a few notes I’ve made about caucasian skin. They relate to different images whose skin seemed good, so the individual notes differ.

HSB brightness of 77% is equivalent to a medium suntan. Look for around H=23° S=40% B=77%. Read a part of the face (I like the forehead) which is neither a shiny highlight nor in shadow.

In HSB, try a highlight brightness value of B=78%, shadow B= 27% H=22° S=40% B=77% is equivalent to R=199 G=152 B=119

A model in makeup had HSB ranges of:
H=18-25
S=26-45
B=71-89

Color guru Dan Margulis, in a rare excursion from his CMYK aerie, says: Caucasian targets are around:
R=150
G=50
Y=90
[You’d have to read the yellow by choosing CMYK as well as RGB in the Info palette]

Tom Nelson
Tom Nelson Photography
C
curvy
Nov 25, 2003
Assuming the model is not in shadow or a light with color cast, skin colors can best be done by the numbers per Eismann and/or Margulis.

But my favorite numbers for a model are 36-22-36.

Tom Nelson wrote:
Skin tones vary a lot even among racial groups. Here are a few notes I’ve made about caucasian skin. They relate to different images whose skin seemed good, so the individual notes differ.

HSB brightness of 77% is equivalent to a medium suntan. Look for around H=23° S=40% B=77%. Read a part of the face (I like the forehead) which is neither a shiny highlight nor in shadow.

In HSB, try a highlight brightness value of B=78%, shadow B= 27% H=22° S=40% B=77% is equivalent to R=199 G=152 B=119
A model in makeup had HSB ranges of:
H=18-25
S=26-45
B=71-89

Color guru Dan Margulis, in a rare excursion from his CMYK aerie, says: Caucasian targets are around:
R=150
G=50
Y=90
[You’d have to read the yellow by choosing CMYK as well as RGB in the Info palette]

Tom Nelson
Tom Nelson Photography

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