The Pursuit of Perfect Skin Tones...

One of my favorite past times (besides clipping coupons, which is bordering on an addiction of paint sample proportions these days) is studying the photos of really good photographers. I love when the photo is so clear that you feel like you could touch the person in it. Mostly, I've been trying to figure out why my photos don't look that "real" or that great.

I've discovered lots of things, but here's an important one: Great photos of people have true-to-life colors and good skin tones. The skin doesn't look yellow or gray or red or bluish. It's skin-tone. Perfectly colored. I haven't figured out how to get true-to-life colors and perfect skin-tones, but I have learned that white balance is important. Here's my very uneducated explanation of white balance: Certain lights (florescent indoor lighting, bright sunny outdoor lighting, flash lighting, etc.) have colors associated with them. So in some lighting situations, your photos look bluish and in some they look reddish and in others they look yellowish. Rarely do they look skin-tonish. But there is a button on a lot of cameras that will change the white balance based on the lighting. You should play with that and see what it does. Some cameras also allow you to set the White Balance yourself so that you tell your camera what is white in that setting/lighting and then it adjusts itself. I haven't figured that out yet (if anyone knows how, feel free to comment).

What I have figured out is how to do a little white balance adjustment in Photoshop. I took a few photos that I thought were good already and then I fixed the white balance in Photoshop. See exhibits A, B, and C (imagine me pointing daintily, "Vanna White style" to the photos below). Note: the photos on the left (or top) are the before and the photos on the right (or bottom) are the after. You may have to click on the photos to see the whole thing.

These photos aren't even close to the "realness" of one of my favorite photographers, Ashley Ann (photo below reprinted with permission of Ashley Ann - check out her blog. You will love it!)

Now that is some seriously, beautiful skin-tonish loveliness. Doesn't it feel like you're right there next to him? Putting her picture next to mine makes me feel bad. Maybe she would travel here and teach us a thing or two? I would have my people call her people, except my people are all under 3 feet tall and don't dial the phone yet. But if you have Photoshop and want a quick fix for some basic white balance issues, click here for a web site with a fast and easy description (which is exactly what I did to the photos above).

And if you're Ashley Ann and you want to offer a photography class about 1000 miles East of you, I'll start cleaning the spare room in preparation for your visit!