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Author Topic: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles  (Read 18758 times)

ErikKaffehr

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #80 on: December 18, 2013, 06:08:37 pm »

Hi,

Yes and no, I'm interested in the usability of the profiles. What I have seen, colours are generally over saturated, but that may be handled by reducing saturation. I sometimes reduce saturation and increase vibrance. I would say the clipped reds are problematic but it can be dealt with some work.


Best regards
Erik

if that's not a fashion shooting, but rather a casual portraiture then who cares about the precise exactness of the shirt color... skin tone that OP will be pleased with is way more important, even at the expense of the shirt, is it not ?
« Last Edit: December 19, 2013, 01:15:11 am by ErikKaffehr »
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synn

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #81 on: December 18, 2013, 06:57:06 pm »

FWIW, Here's a quick 'n dirty job in C1, done to taste. I haven't seen you in person, nor is there a grey card/ color checker in th eshot, so I worked with what looks right to my eye.

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ErikKaffehr

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #82 on: December 19, 2013, 01:34:18 am »

Hi,

This is what I came up with, using eye and adjusting red to fit barely within Adobe RGB (real colour is just outside).

I also added two patches (within grey frames). One is measured colour on shirt, the other is from my forehead. I  replaced just the "a" and "b" channels in Lab mode, so grayscale is kept.



Best regards
Erik

FWIW, Here's a quick 'n dirty job in C1, done to taste. I haven't seen you in person, nor is there a grey card/ color checker in th eshot, so I worked with what looks right to my eye.


« Last Edit: December 19, 2013, 01:40:52 am by ErikKaffehr »
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synn

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #83 on: December 19, 2013, 07:23:25 am »

Quote
I  replaced just the "a" and "b" channels in Lab mode, so grayscale is kept.

Replaced with what?

I think the way you've processed your file, your skin looks a bit too yellowish and the shirt looks like an unnatural shade of red and a tad too bright. It may be scientifically accurate, but it certainly doesn't  "Look" right.
The way I processed mine was a guesstimation of what the skintone of someone your ethnicity and geographical location might sport.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2013, 07:26:54 am by synn »
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #84 on: December 19, 2013, 07:31:37 am »

Hi,

Measured a and b values of my forehead skin and on the red shirt.

The skin color is obviously different between winter and summer but I would expect the change be mostly in the L-channel.

L is luminousity and ab is color in Lab system.

Best regards
Erik
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synn

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #85 on: December 19, 2013, 07:37:07 am »

Erik, I know what the components in Lab are.
The point was, if you want to get serious about portraiture and skintones, it's best to shoot with a grey card and/or color chart and most importantly, develop an eye for this style of photography.

I know quite a few very serious and very famous portrait artists and none of them would be spending time doing any of this measuring stuff. This is one of those instances where the "Art" part needs a wee bit more emphasis than the "Science" part.
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Vladimirovich

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #86 on: December 19, 2013, 10:03:26 am »

Hi,

Measured a and b values of my forehead skin and on the red shirt.

out of curiosity what is a, b for your skin that you measured ?
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #87 on: December 19, 2013, 10:57:48 am »

Hi,

I am not seriousy in the portrait business. This is actually the one of the two portrait images I have with the P45+.

The reason I posted the question is mainly that I try to find a profile that works well enough, and I am not familiar with skin tones.

I can measure skin tones, but a correct skin tone is not necessarily a pleasant one. I absolutely agree on the need of grey reference but I mostly forget. The default DNG-profile for the P45+ in Lightroom doesn't work well at all on the Sony's it is quite OK so I don't use home made profiles on that one.

I am not really enthusiastic about C1, as it doesn't fit my workflow, but Yair has shown to process that image to look decent.

Best regards
Erik


Erik, I know what the components in Lab are.
The point was, if you want to get serious about portraiture and skintones, it's best to shoot with a grey card and/or color chart and most importantly, develop an eye for this style of photography.

I know quite a few very serious and very famous portrait artists and none of them would be spending time doing any of this measuring stuff. This is one of those instances where the "Art" part needs a wee bit more emphasis than the "Science" part.
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AreBee

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #88 on: December 19, 2013, 11:27:53 am »

Quote from: ErikKaffehr
...a correct skin tone is not necessarily a pleasant one.

Interesting. Is the aim of a portrait photographer to produce correct skin tone or pleasing skin tone? If the latter, do you think to yourself when you see people in reality: "Yuck! What horrible skin tone that person has"? If not, why not?
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synn

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #89 on: December 19, 2013, 07:22:53 pm »


The reason I posted the question is mainly that I try to find a profile that works well enough, and I am not familiar with skin tones.



Phase one P45+ portrait natural with film standard curve. That's what I used. I would like to know your opinion on whether or not you find my rendering of that image acceptable.
Again, I stress on not using DNGs or Lightroom if you want decent rendition of PhaseOne files.
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #90 on: December 19, 2013, 08:13:21 pm »

Hi,

See attached file. There are four values so there is some variation. I just took one of them.

I will repeat it with the average values.

Best regards
Erik
out of curiosity what is a, b for your skin that you measured ?
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Vladimirovich

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Re: Which skin tone is best? Four different profiles
« Reply #91 on: December 19, 2013, 08:52:02 pm »

Hi,

See attached file. There are four values so there is some variation. I just took one of them.


http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/4033/sqjl.jpg

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