Dark skin

littlebreeze

I saw the great "Tips and hints" section referring to skin tone ( About skin tones and printing ) are they any tips on how to achieve great skin tones on black skin?

littlebreeze

No?

DavidTO

We'll get more responses soon, but I will say this: the numbers work basically the same, AFAIK. The balance of Cyan may be different, but there is still more yellow than magenta, no matter how dark the skin is.

I will bring this thread to the attention of edgework, who's day job is retouching. He should know!

littlebreeze

er "AFAIK"? remember I'm new to the digital stuff

help me out?

Thanks

R

helbnt

littlebreeze wrote:

er "AFAIK"? remember I'm new to the digital stuff

help me out?

Thanks

R

AFAIK = As Far As I Know



/lurk mode back on

DavidTO

littlebreeze wrote:

er "AFAIK"? remember I'm new to the digital stuff

help me out?

Thanks

R

Sorry. Yep, that's "as far as I know."

You'll also come across:

BTDT: been there, done that (wxwax sez that often)

PEBCAK: problem exists between chair and keyboard (Andy's)

FTW: for the win!

and, etc.

littlebreeze

great, now i feel old

cool

edgework

littlebreeze wrote:

I saw the great "Tips and hints" section referring to skin tone ( About skin tones and printing ) are they any tips on how to achieve great skin tones on black skin?

The problem with black skin is the variety and range of tones. There is equal variety in caucasian skin but the range is much narrower and the difference tends to be straightforward: magenta and yellow will be proportional throughout the range; the difference will be how far ahead of cyan they run. Pale skin will have cyan around 8-15% and Magenta and Yellow around 20-35%. Heavily tanned skin will have mag and yellow as much as 60-80% and Cyan up to around 30 or so. Black is seldom a factor.

Black skin tones vary dramatically in value, and the degree of darkness depends both on the cyan levels and the black ink level.


In this image, cyan falls around 70% - 85% of the magenta value, which runs from about 45% to 75%. Yellow remains above that, but not much: higher numbers but about the same ratio as caucasian skin. Most of the darkness is from cyan values. Black reaches 20% in the shadows.


Here, Magenta and Yellow read as though they were caucasian tones: 39/45, 46/54, 51/60. But Cyan is reaching 70% - 90% of the magenta values throughout, and, of course, nowhere are the magenta/yellow values dropping below 35.


This was a really bad image, way too red and dark. Magenta/yellow seem like they could be correct: 67/75, 73/83. But cyan is consistently under 50% of magenta, so we see that the problem isn't too much red, it's too little cyan to counter it. But it's also flat, and after a luminosity curve to enhance contrast and a cyan boost I get values like 35/43/54, 49/55/70 with black rising to 30 or so in the darkest shadows.


And now, just to keep things complicated, check out these readings: 5/25/27, 9/30/32 with no black. Those could have come from a pale white face. However, in the darker areas these readings: 29/54/64, 38/57/72/16 pull the tonal range away from caucasian skin.

But the variety is wide. Throughout, however, you find cyan at least above 50% of magenta, and sometimes near or even equal magenta. Magenta and yellow will retain the same relative ratio as one finds in caucasian skin, though darker—usually running from 30 - 75— but black plays a much more significant role and appears earlier, proportionally, in the value range. Usually, it is the presence of the black value that determines the difference in paler tones, such as the last image, or deeper tones, as in the first two.

Hope that helps.

littlebreeze

thank you thank you thank you

saurora

Thanks Edgework! This belongs in a tutorial!

Scott_Quier

I agree - this belongs in a tute. And, the time couldn't be any better for me as I have an African-American wedding this weekend. With this information, the post is going to be much easier!

Thanks ever so much!