Comments on: Skintones by the Numbers Photoshop Tutorial

By: Luna

Luna — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:45:37 +0000

This is a great tutorial Ariana! I love all your postings. What if I don’t have Lightroom? How should I do this?

Thanks!

By: Ava

Ava — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:50:33 +0000

Yep, I’m calibrated and have WB :(
Maybe it’s a personal preference, or maybe my eye is being pulled too much by the red undies. I’ll do another adjustment layer and add a bit more yellow and drop the magenta.

The photo really does look a lot better in B&W though.

By: ariana

ariana — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:20:53 +0000

Hi Ava, I really can barely see a difference in the before and after, the skintones are reading fine for me on both. To my eye MAYBE the after looks a tad warmer, but not much! Are you calibrated? It doesn’t look too warm to me at all. As far as bellies go, I have noticed that even if your WB is correct and you have tweaked the colors so the skintones are correct, the belly may still bee too cool or need less magenta. So, unfortunately you may have to do an additional adjustment layer and mask it so it only shows through on the belly!

By: Ava

Ava — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:58:28 +0000

Ok, so how about non-facial skin tones? I have a shot of a belly (sadly with red under-wear), and it just ALWAYS looks too warm.

I used your suggestion (thank you very much) and here’s the comparison: before on top, after adjustment on bottom. Any way to rescue this before having to turn B&W?
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4332192895_cc0ef88b84.jpg

By: emily

emily — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:53:11 +0000

Thank you so much !! These tutorials help me out a lot. Could you do a post about lenses? What you have and what you use them for?

By: Becca

Becca — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:29:18 +0000

I Love this! :-) Thanks for sharing~!!

By: ariana

ariana — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:51:33 +0000

Samm, no, the grey card is the best way to set correct WB.. this is what I do if I don’t have a gray card as a reference. And even WITH a gray card you still need to check the skin.. It often needs to be adjusted to less magenta.

By: Samm Ivri

Samm Ivri — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:34:05 +0000

Cool! Thanks! I’ve never heard of this but will try it. I recently got a gray card and have tried that method of correcting. Is there any reason you prefer the CMY % method?

By: Lisa E

Lisa E — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:25:04 +0000

Ariana- This is great! I love the videos. I visited a post from March and watched how you run an action. I downloaded some free one’s from Totally Rad, but wasn’t quite sure how to use it. I recently heard of Pioneer Woman and look forward to exploring actions!

Thanks so much! You are so helpful!

By: Juliana

Juliana — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:02:09 +0000

Thanks! Loved the tutorial!!!!