Accurate portrait skin color not always necessary

I believe accurate portrait skin color is not always necessary when editing images from a model photo shoot. In fact, if I’ve taken a few hundred pictures of the model (which I often do), I’d find having every one of them a “normal” skin color to be quite boring.

Much of my editing is done to push beyond the picture that came out of the camera. For example – I may soften the image, substantially increase the contrast, darken or lighten specific areas of the photo, or mess about with the color.

Besides making the image look more interesting, changing its color often changes its mood. For example, blue can imply coolness, sadness, melancholy, or depression; red can denote rage, danger, heat, love, or passion; yellow can symbolize sickness, glory, splendor, or power.

I make my color changes almost always in post production. I use Adobe Camera RAW – the program that ships with Adobe Photoshop but is much easier to master. The controls I usually adjust are Saturation, Vibrance, the HSL Adjustments Panel, the Split Toning Panel, and the Adjustment Brush. In addition, there are several free and low-cost plug-ins for Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop that can be found online. There also are other digital imaging programs available for simplifying more complex color adjustments.

For no specific reason. I like the idea of initially viewing the image with its normal colors. This is quickly done in Adobe Camera Raw by clicking on something in the picture that’s white, gray, or black, using the White Balance Tool. Or, if I’ve taken a few pictures of the model holding a gray or white card, I’ll click on that instead. This should render all the colors as normal or something close to it. It’s at this point that I may start thinking about playing around with the color.

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