Specific Skin Color Toning

[SeagramPearce]

Hi guys

So I'm always a lurker & try contribute when I feel I have something to add (which isn't often compared when next to most of the folk on here!). Whenever I am trying to look for something in particular I do try do a search first & see what I can find incase the topic has come up before.

In this case however the kind of skin (and image) color toning I'm trying to achieve is very specific. There are some other threads asking about skin tones, but they're for weird & fantastical color toning.

I've attached the suspect in question. Just so you guys don't think I'm a lazy ass, I have been tweaking & trying various curves, gradient, solid color variations & I'm actually just going crazy. The photo I've attached is by someone I know (an old assistant) and I know that it can't be a majorly complex method. I just can't seem to find the right combo! I just think the coppery-bronze skin tone is just amazing!

A photographer whose skin tones & skin retouching always blows my mind is http://gavinoneill.com/ Please check his site & you will see that his skin tones are just so beautifully consistent throughout all his work. I need to know how he does it!

[Nasturtium]

http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93363

[Siciliana]

Are you trying to make the model in the first photo have the skin tone of the second or third? I am not clear on what you are trying to achieve.

[SeagramPearce]

Originally Posted by Nasturtium

http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93363

I actually found this link in one of the threads that I searched through before posting my own. I even tried it. And it came nowhere near the kind of effect I'm trying for unfortunately.

[SeagramPearce]

Originally Posted by Siciliana

Are you trying to make the model in the first photo have the skin tone of the second or third? I am not clear on what you are trying to achieve.

To be honest, I would be happy to be able to achieve ANY of those posted samples. The first image is a slightly desaturated version of the others, but they all have the most incredible skin tones. All the things I've tried result in the skin losing it's luminosity & looking rather crap.

So I would love to just get myself to a point where I can work out how the hell they always get such incredible skin tones & consistently too!

[SeagramPearce]

I've been trying to work from a raw shot of my own, with the samples brought up right next to it so that as I work on mine I can try get it closer to the target result. But man, I've spent hours trying.

Here is a raw beauty shot I've been trying to use as my guinea pig. I don't mind sending the hi-res to someone if they want to try give this a go themselves. I would be eternally grateful if they did & were able to educate me on their process.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...sampleraw.jpg/

[amica999]

Have you tried to take the RGB values of your sample for shadow. midtones highlight and match those via curve to your shot?

[Nasturtium]

Originally Posted by SeagramPearce

I actually found this link in one of the threads that I searched through before posting my own. I even tried it. And it came nowhere near the kind of effect I'm trying for unfortunately.

funny..it works just fine for me for tone (color, hue whatever you want to call it). I can't help you with the texture ...

take a picture with the right white balance. This is critical you have to start with real skin colors.

make a selection of the red channel

back in your layers panel make a new curves layer (this will then have the red channel as a mask- which is essentially a selection of roughly the skin)

in the curves adjustment choose just the blue channel and pull it down slightly in the middle...this should warm up the skin.

take eye dropper readings of the skin (3x3 point sample) to see if it matches the desired ratios

You might also need to make a hue/saturation adjustment layer where you again use the red channel as a mask and then move the red slider very slightly to the right.

again use the eye dropper to see if you're close to the ratios that you need. Adjust the two adjustment layers' opacities to get to your target ratios.

Now you will most likely have to desaturate the whole image. There are many many ways to do this...I prefer to make a channels mixer adjustment layer with the monochrome box checked and decrease the layer's opacity until I get to the numbers that I want.

Good luck. HTH - Nancy

[ME_wwwing]

Originally Posted by SeagramPearce

I've been trying to work from a raw shot of my own, with the samples brought up right next to it so that as I work on mine I can try get it closer to the target result. But man, I've spent hours trying.

Here is a raw beauty shot I've been trying to use as my guinea pig. I don't mind sending the hi-res to someone if they want to try give this a go themselves. I would be eternally grateful if they did & were able to educate me on their process.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...sampleraw.jpg/

with the image you posted - to help the skin look more natural

open a Hue/Sat Adj Layer - open REDS - move Hue to -10. repeat steps only Hue to +10
group these 2 Layers - use opacity to adjust

to fade out image
Curves Adj layer - mode Color - grab the black point at the bottom left and slide it up the side. almost half way.
grab the light point on the top right and slide down. work them until you get what you like.

to give the skin an off color - you can play with Gradient Maps>mode overlay or Solid Color Layer>mode Overlay. a lot of masking and trail and error to get it right.