Making a Book for Friends in Kenya - Seeking help w/skin tones

sapphire73

I have made two trips to Kenya, visiting friends (local Kenyans) who have started schools and orphanages there. I would like to make a book of photos for them, and I'm not sure what is the most pleasing way to process these images so that they look good in print. (I am shooting in RAW, have LR3 and PSE here at home, and have access to a full version of photoshop at my workplace if I need to use curves for this.)

Could you tell me which of these images you think are processed in a way that might work well for this kind of project or how I could improve them? I can order some prints to help me adjust the skin tones but saw a recent thread about "Issues when lighting ebony skin" and was hoping someone might be able to help me on the processing end. These photos tend to be snapped in available light as the opportunity arises. (The Masaii matriarch wanted her photo taken but looks incredibly serious.)

Thanks for whatever help you can give me with this! My experience in this area is quite limited. I have tons of photos but am looking for some guidance before tweaking them for this project.

Gretchen

These were processed from RAW in LR3 with the help of various camera profiles and then checked PSE after export, adjusting the levels a bit if that seemed to improve the images.

1. Free Ride (faithful profile)


2. Free Ride (neutral profile)


3. Masai Matriarch (portrait profile)


4. Masai Matriarch (standard profile)


5. Orphaned Boys (faithful profile)


6. Orphaned Boys (standard profile)

sapphire73

I'd also welcome general C & C. Will probably be back there in 2012.

indiegirl

I really like how warm the faithful profile is--

sapphire73

indiegirl wrote: »

I really like how warm the faithful profile is--

Thanks for your input on this. Very helpful!