Over exposing for good skin tones??

[JustJazzie]

I am having some trouble editing the pictures from my last shoot and I asked a friend who has taken several photoshop classes if there was a way to fix it. She says both her classes taught her to overexposed by 1/3-2/3 stops in order to improve skin tones. Her skin always does look nice! I've just never heard this before.....is this a common technique?

 

[TamiAz]

I tend to expose as far as I can to the right of the histogram without blowing anything important..I use my blinkies and the histogram to check my exposure. Also, making sure your white balance is correct is very important for skin tones. I've started using an Expodisc and my white balance has been a little more consistent.

 

[wyogirl]

Its common for black and white photography... not sure about color but the theory applies. The meter in your camera measures for medium gray... meaning if you are shooting Caucasian skin, it will render it too dark. Its the same with snow... over expose by abut 2 stops.

 

[JustJazzie]

Its common for black and white photography... not sure about color but the theory applies. The meter in your camera measures for medium gray... meaning if you are shooting Caucasian skin, it will render it too dark. Its the same with snow... over expose by abut 2 stops.

So for dark skin tones I would leave it normal?

 

[tirediron]

Its common for black and white photography... not sure about color but the theory applies. The meter in your camera measures for medium gray... meaning if you are shooting Caucasian skin, it will render it too dark. Its the same with snow... over expose by abut 2 stops.

TWO stops? 2/3 stop maybe... even a full stop, but 2 seems a little much.

 

[wyogirl]

2 for snow... not skin. I meant same theory, not same compensation.

 

[tirediron]

2 for snow... not skin. I meant same theory, not same compensation.

Gotcha... read that wrong. Okay... I'll rescind the order for 20 lashes with a rusty cable-release!

 

[KmH]

I gauge correct skin exposure by looking at the value of the RGB red channel.
I want highlights on the forehead, cheeks, tip of nose, and chin to be between 235 and 240 in the red channel.

If you use LR, you can't check the RGB red channel in the same way. I use Camera Raw.

Here is another approach to skin tones: How to get pleasing skin tone | SmugMug

 

[wyogirl]

@Tirediron... I could have written that better. But I'm glad I'm off the hook for 20 lashes... I'm a wimp.

 

[JustJazzie]

@Tirediron... I could have written that better. But I'm glad I'm off the hook for 20 lashes... I'm a wimp.

It's so funny because when she explained it to me in a text she actually said "1-2 stops" meaning 1-2"clicks" and I was like :headscratch: how does she even get a useable image?!

 

[JustJazzie]

I gauge correct skin exposure by looking at the value of the RGB red channel. I want highlights on the forehead, cheeks, tip of nose, and chin to be between 235 and 240 in the red channel. If you use LR, you can't check the RGB red channel in the same way. I use Camera Raw. Here is another approach to skin tones: How to get pleasing skin tone | SmugMug

Thanks for the link!

 

[TamiAz]

Do you edit in LR or PS?

 

[JustJazzie]

Do you edit in LR or PS?

Aperture and cs6. Unfortunately I made the awful mistake of shooting in JPEG so I'm thinking these might be shot!

 

[TamiAz]

Do you edit in LR or PS?

Aperture and cs6. Unfortunately I made the awful mistake of shooting in JPEG so I'm thinking these might be shot!

I'm going to send you a message..

 

[KmH]

It's so funny because when she explained it to me in a text she actually said "1-2 stops" meaning 1-2"clicks" and I was like :headscratch: how does she even get a useable image?!

Digital cameras come set to the default such that 1 'click' is 1/3 of a stop.

Most digital cameras allow changing the default so you can set eh camera up for 1/2 stop steps or even full stop steps.
Digital hand held light meters usually have a default light reading setting of 1/10 stop steps, which illustrates how accurately many pro photographers control exposure.