Topic: Article from dpreview.com on skin tones

[curvemeister]

I ran across an article in dpreview.com forum by Julia Borg that discusses some of the issues involved with good skin tones.  Most skin tones fall within the "lunch hour" range on the hue clock.  One big surprise is that, for some individuals, a slightly magenta skin tone is considered OK.

Note that during this discussion, the Hue angle is in degrees.  On the clock an angle of 0 degrees is straight up, and 30 degrees is 1 o'clock.  A nominal skin tone in Curvemeister is about 14 degrees.  - Mike

Laws of skin tones were published by Munsell and many other scientist and color gurus. Key is to know the laws and to know the light.

"Most important variable in skin tone is Hue.

Skin tones are based on hemaglobin and melanin. Hemoglobin controls hew, while melanin controls mostly brightness and saturation.

If you switch HSB indication in PS info palette, and look at H in a flat-lit skin midtone, what would be the indication?

Try this on different types of skin, ranging from Nordic to Southern, and including Eastern."

"McCamy, the man who created ColorChecker, made enourmous number of measurements, directly from skin. He pointed to melanin and hemaglobin as 2 major factors forming the skin tone.

So, first 2 patches - darker-then-lightes and lighter-then-darkest skin types.

Hue (also) depends on the thickness of skin, the thicker is the skin, the lower is effect of hemaglobin.

Extreme North - H approx. 8 degrees on PS graph;

Average Dark/Caucasian skin - approx. 17, in alot of cases 15; up to 21..23 degrees;

East - up to 38 degrees;


Sun, fresh air, sports, heat, - decrease H normally by up to 6 degrees. Children are often also 5 degrees to CCW.

Major difference between Dark and Caucasian skin is in B. It is about 50% and 85% respectivly (of course, measured from a flat zone, not a highlight)."

Tools:

GretagMacbeth ColorChecker


http://www.google.com/... ...r=&q=munsell+conversion+site%3Agretagmacbeth.com

http://www.curvemeister.com

--
Julia

 

[Frits]

Mike,

very interesting!
till now , I find it difficult to choose the right skin-color pin.
therefore I choose always skinpin 1.
My granddaughter is from  Aruba.
Then my grandchild(s) have I light braun color.
What to choose , when i have a picture  withe different persons and therefore also different skins.?
In P.S.E. 4.0 I can do indeed what you do with the HSB- info.
That works more precisely then the Hue-clock.
But how can it help my decision to choose the right skincolor.?
So I said, till now I find it difficult.
Perhaps there should be a possibility, to enlarge the Hue-clock , so You can read like HSB the H very precise.
But still then, what to choose?

Frits