Beginner How pink is TOO pink

rusticblonde

rusticblonde

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229
Name
Kirsty
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi guys, so recently I posted a picture for skin tone correction and REALLY welcomed the thoughts and feedback so far. So really my thought process is, what makes the perfect skin tone (from a newbie stance). For example my image was REALLY underexposed (I was relatively new to photography then). Upon review, I completely see that the picture does look washed out.

In regards to tones etc. Where did you look in order to get a better understanding of a perfect / realistic skin tone.

Thanks
Kirsty
 
ecoleman said:
My skin?
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Ok, maybe i wasnt clear lol!! So I had a picture, it looks washed out, but then with the light that was around it looked rather orange at one point. Do you then attempt to bring it up, but then it look too red?
 
Everyone's skin tone is slightly different so it's a difficult one to answer.

Would a Color Checker in photo help?
 
I just think it needs to look balanced. Not too red, not too green. Not too pink. Not too anything.... Just well balanced when considering the rest of the scene.

Would be good to see said pic..
 
UaeExile said:
I just think it needs to look balanced. Not too red, not too green. Not too pink. Not too anything.... Just well balanced when considering the rest of the scene.

Would be good to see said pic..
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View media item 12603
This was said pic :)

This is the edit i have just played with, so thoughts on the pink ness is welcomed. I thought this being pink was a little too much? Looking less natural?

db1ca989a20d9a899249de916c925074
 
UaeExile said:
Yeah, and not just in the skin tones but in the concrete as well. An easy fix in LR with the tint slider though.
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Thanks for this, I will have a play lol! So so new

@UaeExile but then does this then look too much colour... hence the title. What is pink and what is too much! :D
31728535270_88d74def8d_b.jpg
 
rusticblonde said:
Thanks for this, I will have a play lol! So so new

@UaeExile but then does this then look too much colour... hence the title. What is pink and what is too much! :D
31728535270_88d74def8d_b.jpg
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you still need to get the WB correct to start with - click on the concrete with the pipette

EDIT - you have just changed it since I posted
 
rusticblonde said:
Hi Bill, how does the edit look now? Does it look a little orange now?
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I'm not a portrait person Kirsty, unless it's a bird .. so take my opinion with a pinch of salt

your latest edit looks good to me, I don't see any noticeable "pink" .. I think that your are "there" ... but I suspect that you want to give him a "bit of a tan" - just the hint thereof

what I do notice is the shadow line as the ends of his fingers, touching his face ...... as I said ...... I don't take portraits ....... maybe that's normal, maybe it's a little strong, if so easy to adjust locally
 
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BillN_33 said:
I'm not a portrait person Kirsty, unless it's a bird .. so take my opinion with a pinch of salt

you latest edit looks good to me, I don't see any noticeable "pink" .. I think that your are "there" ... but I suspect that you want to give him a "bit of a tan" - just the hint thereof

what I do notice is the shadow line as the ends of his fingers, touching his face ...... as I said ...... I don't take portraits ....... maybe that's normal, maybe it's a little strong, if so easy to adjust locally
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Yes probably is a little sharp. I think i just wanted to get an overall feel of what is classed as a good pink / skin colour tone for portrait work. Thankyou for your valuable feedback :)
 
I think sometimes it's easy to get bogged down in the detail. The WB should be a matter of fact not a matter of opinion. Start with using a colour checker when you shoot, and make sure your monitor is calibrated. That'll give you 'natural' colour and from there you can experiment. But it's good to have a solid starting point.
 
Phil V said:
I think sometimes it's easy to get bogged down in the detail. The WB should be a matter of fact not a matter of opinion. Start with using a colour checker when you shoot, and make sure your monitor is calibrated. That'll give you 'natural' colour and from there you can experiment. But it's good to have a solid starting point.
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Hi Phil, thanks for this. The problem is it was very underexposed. I did the white colour balance eyedropper which then produced the below when i exposed it more. For me it just looks now blue, and not a natural
tone @Phil V
DSC_0159.jpg
 
rusticblonde said:
Hi Phil, thanks for this. The problem is it was very underexposed. I did the white colour balance eyedropper which then produced the below when i exposed it more. For me it just looks now blue, and not a natural
tone @Phil V
View attachment 92936
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Which begs the question 'why?'
Modern camera meters would nail that exposure every time. So that suggests you decided to intervene and messed up.:oops: :$
 
Phil V said:
Which begs the question 'why?'
Modern camera meters would nail that exposure every time. So that suggests you decided to intervene and messed up.:oops: :$
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Well when you are learning i guess these are curves right. Surely this could be recovered in LR ? I didnt intervene with this. Straight out of cam is very under exposed and i just cranked up the exposure @Phil V
 
minnnt said:
Prefer the original edit tbh. You really did balls the SOOC image up though. Adjusting it this much in post will degrade the image. Did you have some negative exposure dialled in by mistake?
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Oh I know i completely balls up the image @minnnt . I am very aware of that. This was when i got my very 1st DSLR. I have improved alot. It was more a case of a generic discussion around pink in faces that has kinda escalated lol
 
rusticblonde said:
Just not sure how u got i intervened 0_o @Phil V
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Because it's a fairly 'average' scene, the camera meter would nail that every day (either by following the meter in M or by using any Auto mode).

Not a criticism, you know what went wrong, fixing it will always be tricky because there's a lack of data.

Really it makes the original question moot though, your problem isn't how to get a correct skin tone, it's how to recreate the correct colours in an image when you have wrecked the exposure.
 
Phil V said:
Because it's a fairly 'average' scene, the camera meter would nail that every day (either by following the meter in M or by using any Auto mode).

Not a criticism, you know what went wrong, fixing it will always be tricky because there's a lack of data.

Really it makes the original question moot though, your problem isn't how to get a correct skin tone, it's how to recreate the correct colours in an image when you have wrecked the exposure.
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Fair point and absolutely nailed. I well and truly screwed the image.

Just as a note this is a more recent one that i didnt butcher as much. Aware the highlights are blown in the BG lol

View attachment 92939
 
See for me the above looks a tad under exposed on the face. Could have done with a fill light someone stated. Tbf, this is all so new. I just want to make sure that im heading in the right direction when it comes to facial tones :)
 
you have two really nice subjects, (and shots), there Kirsty and they are what matters - post processing is used all the time and I would not worry too much as the learning curve can be very short to get to a very good level
 
BillN_33 said:
you have two really nice subjects, (and shots), there Kirsty and they are what matters - post processing is used all the time and I would not worry too much as the learning curve can be very short to get to a very good level
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I learnt the hard with the 1st photo lol! Since the upgrade to the D7200 I am getting loads better. Thankyou for all the feedback all :)
 
rusticblonde said:
I learnt the hard with the 1st photo lol! Since the upgrade to the D7200 I am getting loads better. Thankyou for all the feedback all :)
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A few observations through reading this thread Kirsty.
You could end up going around in circles when it comes to the differing opinions/taste. Too pink/not pink enough?
As @Phil V alluded to, if you have the fundamentals in place initially ie exposure, focus etc it will go a long way towards the finished article.

Some people rely on post processing and that's fine if it suits their workflow, but a little care and attention before pressing the shutter button will save some work on a computer.
 
Your first one was 'washed out' because it was so massively underexposed so there wasn't all that much information there in the file when you ramped up the exposure by four stops or whatever in post.

As for white balance, yeah it is a matter of fact. But it's a matter of opinion whether you want to set it 'correctly' or not. Unless you're shooting products for a catalogue.

What looks right is right.
 
blakester said:
A few observations through reading this thread Kirsty.
You could end up going around in circles when it comes to the differing opinions/taste. Too pink/not pink enough?
As @Phil V alluded to, if you have the fundamentals in place initially ie exposure, focus etc it will go a long way towards the finished article.

Some people rely on post processing and that's fine if it suits their workflow, but a little care and attention before pressing the shutter button will save some work on a computer.
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Thankyou for the constructive comments on this. As mentioned above, I royally failed at this photo, so therefore salvaging correctly is probably not available. :)
 
Jayst84 said:
Your first one was 'washed out' because it was so massively underexposed so there wasn't all that much information there in the file when you ramped up the exposure by four stops or whatever in post.

As for white balance, yeah it is a matter of fact. But it's a matter of opinion whether you want to set it 'correctly' or not. Unless you're shooting products for a catalogue.

What looks right is right.
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Great comment on the WB. Tbh im still a newbie and LR is still a minefield for me :)
 
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