Senior Pics

[wmchauncey]

My insecurity caused me to hire a Pro to shoot some senior pictures of my black teenager.
 He took a studio shot, as well as some outdoors using an off camera flash unit. No white bal card was
 used in either scenario. Is that standard procedure?
 My compliant is that the skin tones look terrible in the outdoor shots, obvious color shifts that my
 daughter didn't notice but I did.

 Granted that there is a difference in lighting causing some minor shifts but, when I have done shots of her using a wb card, the RGB number ratios are somewhat the same, leading to a similarity in skin tones.

 Following the initial review, sans any PP, we made selections of images to be printed based on poses only.
 When I requested a follow-up review after PP and prior to printing, he responded "trust me, they'll be fine"...

 I'm somewhat leery of the "trust me" phrase. What is SOP for a portrait pro

Here's an example of mine, done for a series of images not concerning her, done under terrible conditions with my technique.

[Justinr]

My insecurity caused me to hire a Pro to shoot some senior pictures of my black teenager.
 He took a studio shot, as well as some outdoors using an off camera flash unit. No white bal card was
 used in either scenario. Is that standard procedure?
 My compliant is that the skin tones look terrible in the outdoor shots, obvious color shifts that my
 daughter didn't notice but I did.

 Granted that there is a difference in lighting causing some minor shifts but, when I have done shots of her using a wb card, the RGB number ratios are somewhat the same, leading to a similarity in skin tones.

 Following the initial review, sans any PP, we made selections of images to be printed based on poses only.
 When I requested a follow-up review after PP and prior to printing, he responded "trust me, they'll be fine"...

 I'm somewhat leery of the "trust me" phrase. What is SOP for a portrait pro

Here's an example of mine, done for a series of images not concerning her, done under terrible conditions with my technique.

Skin tones are an absolute nightmare and are dependable on so many variables. I find the best way to approach them is not to worry just so long as they look about right for the first 4 or 5 seconds of viewing, start studying them for longer and you'll find so many flaws that you'll find yourself confined to clinic until the brain has settled again. Get a copy of any glossy mag and start really looking at the skin tones on pictures that are meant to be near perfect and you'll see what I mean.