Why are faces bleached out?

[The Pielander]

I have been using my Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro recently for taking pictures of people, sort of as a telephoto portrait lens. I'm using it on a 550D. I've noticed that in a lot of the shots people's faces are very pale and have a bleached look whereas other colours are quite saturated and very acceptable. I'm mystified as to why this is happening....can anyone offer any suggestions?

 

[dinners]

What camera settings did you have set ?

 

[Grendel]

Can you maybe post an example, with full EXIF info?

 

[Canon Bob]

It may be worth switching ALO off and using spot or partial metering to see it things improve. Having ALO cranked up and shooting a face in darker surroundings with evaluative can lead to your problem.

Bob

 

[HoppyUK]

It's an exposure problem. Are you using flash?