Skin tones?

[Reyna]

Ok, I know this is the professional forum but I wanted to ask a specific question on here mostly b/c most of you know the correct answer.

I just can't seem to get skin tones right. I normally shoot with my white balance on auto, but when I change it up, I can't ever get it right. Ex. Here is a pic of my son I took this morning sooc. You can see that his skin just looks too hot. I 'think' it's b/c of his shirt but I really have no clue on how I would go about fixing it. A grey card?... but lighting changes so frequently how does that work?

So, my question is how do you get good, consistant skin tones?! Any help would be appreciated.

 

[y75stingray]

.....use a metering card with a custom white balance setting. Yes natural light does change you may have to meter more than once during your shoot it only takes a second.

 

[Josh66]

I always left my WB on Daylight - because 95% of the time, that was right anyway. Flash is balanced for daylight, and well, so is the sun.

For the times when Daylight isn't the right setting, it's easy to fix in post. I keep a WhiBal card in my bag. I shoot that if I don't think daylight will be right.

 

[Reyna]

thanks. i metered here on my son's face but it's still off.

 

[Naphtali14]

Shoot in RAW and fix it in post is the easiest in my opinion.

 

[chito beach]

Looking at the EXIF info in the picture I can see that the camera was in manual mode. ISO 400, 1/30th second, F2.2, and WB set to Auto, Set the WB to Daylight if using flash or in sun

 

[bennielou]

I agree with the above. Shoot RAW and then fix it, or custom balance.

 

[chito beach]

I agree with the above. Shoot RAW and then fix it, or custom balance.

Im from The school of actually learning to take the picture correctly in the first place is always better than screwing with a screw up in post. Why create extra work for yourself...........or is learning to do it correctly to difficult for you guys?

 

[Aye-non Oh-non Imus]

I agree with the above. Shoot RAW and then fix it, or custom balance.

Im from The school of actually learning to take the picture correctly in the first place is always better than screwing with a screw up in post. Why create extra work for yourself...........or is learning to do it correctly to difficult for you guys?

While I agree with you chito beach, chances are that some adjustment to taste for the WB will be done in post even if you use a gray card. One of the advatages of Lightroom is that you can make that adjustment to one photo and sych all the remaining which were shot under the same lighting conditions.

 

[chito beach]

I agree with the above. Shoot RAW and then fix it, or custom balance.

Im from The school of actually learning to take the picture correctly in the first place is always better than screwing with a screw up in post. Why create extra work for yourself...........or is learning to do it correctly to difficult for you guys?

While I agree with you chito beach, chances are that some adjustment to taste for the WB will be done in post even if you use a gray card. One of the advatages of Lightroom is that you can make that adjustment to one photo and sych all the remaining which were shot under the same lighting conditions.

The only reason you should need to adjust white balance is if the lighting conditions change during the shoot.

 

[o hey tyler]

Shoot in RAW and fix it in post is the easiest in my opinion.

Or you could use a gray card and not have to fix it in post. Easier in my opinion.

 

[ghache]

This is the beauty of shooting raw! I dont know why so many people are so paranoid about colors. I never had problem with colors shooting raw in auto white ballance. My d7000 is pretty acurate as far as i know and is rarely that off. depending on the light source of course.

Try to concentrate on "LIGHT" during a shoot not colors. at the end the colors you most of people screw them up in post processing enyway.

Sometime i try to review my shots in black and white. Its easier to concentrate on light that way, worry about the colors later.

 

[chito beach]

This is the beauty of shooting raw! I dont know why so many people are so paranoid about colors. I never had problem with colors shooting raw in auto white ballance. My d7000 is pretty acurate as far as i know and is rarely that off. depending on the light source of course.

Try to concentrate on "LIGHT" during a shoot not colors. at the end the colors you most of people screw them up in post processing enyway.

Sometime i try to review my shots in black and white. Its easier to concentrate on light that way, worry about the colors later.

Ill stick to doing it right in camera so I dont have to spend extra time in post. Like I said learn your tools and they will do the work for you. I'll take the 30 seconds when I start a shoot to make things right rather than mess with it in post and hope you can correct it.

 

[STM]

Ok, I know this is the professional forum but I wanted to ask a specific question on here mostly b/c most of you know the correct answer.

I just can't seem to get skin tones right. I normally shoot with my white balance on auto, but when I change it up, I can't ever get it right. Ex. Here is a pic of my son I took this morning sooc. You can see that his skin just looks too hot. I 'think' it's b/c of his shirt but I really have no clue on how I would go about fixing it. A grey card?... but lighting changes so frequently how does that work?

So, my question is how do you get good, consistant skin tones?! Any help would be appreciated.

First and foremost, I would take your white balance off auto. It is wrong more times than it is right in my experience. Use the pre-set white balances and tweak in PS (or whatever you are using) afterwards. I am not familiar with the D7000 but on my D700 I can use a standard neutral 35% gray card to get a custom white balance.

 

[toddjamesphotography]

On thing you could do is to turn on your "live view" and adjust the kelvin to your liking as you're looking in live view.