Photographer Q&A, How do you get good skin tones?

Last week we started out by sharing with you some of our [favorite articles & interviews]. We’re hoping to update or feature a new Q&A each Friday, so stay tuned each week for fun answers & tips! You can email us at any time with your [Question] and hopefully we can address it here on the blog in the future!

I’m kicking off our first Q&A on the blog by bringing back our first & MOST POPULAR Q&A from 2008. All Q&A posts, or posts related to information for Photographers will be published in our [PHOTOGRAPHERS] category. You can click on that link, or by choosing the “Photographers” link under “Categories” at the top of the blog.

[Ali] asks, “so…you are officially the Warrior Princess of skin tones…what’s the secret if I may ask? Supernatural powers from the universe?!? You’re stuff flippin’ rocks my socks off!!!” Awwww, thanks Ali! I hope we can enlighten you on our powers of skin-tone awesome-ness!! :)

Skin Tone & Post Processing. (AKA Good-Lighting-and-Good-Makeup-is-the-secret-to-my-skin-tones). Here’s a quick, down and dirty description of how I get great skin tones, and post-process my images. ARE YOU READY TO GET LEARNED GOOD?

FIRST!!!! The MOST IMPORTANT key to good skin tone is lighting your subject. If you do not achieve this in camera, it is nearly impossible to correct.
SECONDLY!!!! Everyone has their own shooting style, and way of processing. What works for one person doesn’t always work for another. This is how I work the best, and hopefully it can help guide you to try new things in your own post-processing and find the best method that suits your work-flow :)

This first image is straight out of the camera. It is a tad muted, and the color should be warmed up a touch. This image was shot on an overcast day with the sun behind me and to the right. The clouds act like a big diffuser so the light on her face is even.

As you can see the image above didn’t look too bad! I like to over-expose just a bit, to keep everything looking bright (especially the skin) before I bring it into photo-shop. I shoot in RAW because I prefer the workflow over JPG. Having an EXCELLENT [make-up artist] will make a HUGE difference with making sure your clients skin tone is even, before you start shooting. Professional make-up application can help with ANY kind of skin tone, and save you HOURS in post.

I use a custom action in ACR that creates a “flat” looking image like the next one shown here. I do this part in ACR (the RAW screen that pops up before you open your photo in photoshop). I get the exposure perfect, adjust the color temperature, bring all contrast out, bring back any blown out areas, and if I feel a little saucy I’ll add some vignetting. This goes back to my days of working in a darkroom. I like to have a blank slate with my digital “Negative” so I can correct anything in Photoshop. I have tried BOTH ways and adjusting curves/contrast in ACR creates weird discoloration in highlights and shadows. Try both sometime and you will see a difference.

Once I’m in photoshop, I fix any problems (dust spots, any shadows under the eyes). I hardly touch their skin in post because 95% of the time it’s ready to go. I never remove the shadows completely under the eye because it tends to make people look like fake plastic dolls. No brightening is done to the eyes (same reason as under-eye shadows). A little burning & dodging may occur to make the image look “just right”.

Next I use a custom made curves layer to create the contrast & POP to my images. It is a simple “S” curve that brings back the contrast I pulled out in ACR. I do this AFTER I have made any edits to the actual image so changes are made on the “Negative” before making the final move. I strongly believe that editing an image before it has contrast will make editing easier, and allow you to see what really needs to be fixed. I feel it’s less destructive to your image.

LASTLY, for the blog I will run an action that re-sizes and sharpens for web. I use [Totally Rad Actions "Sharpen for Web"] action in their “Original Photoshop Actions” set. It’s the perfect web sharpen, and I swear by it. And there you have it, the final image and all dolled up for the blog!

Feel free to leave any comments, or questions below, and I will try and jump in to answer/follow-up. I hope you learned something fun!