Tutorial Shows How to Correct Skin Tones, Colorize Shadows and Add Light Effects

When it comes to nailing the white-balance in a photo, it’s rarely an easy task, especially with portraits. It becomes even more arduous when you’re trying to stylize the image a certain way, since you might not want the same tones and color balance in your skin tones as you do in the rest of your image.

This tutorial by the folks at Phlearn shows you how to get past those challenges and achieve the results you want in every part of your photo without having to sacrifice elsewhere.

What we liked about this video is that, in ten minutes, he basically brings this image to life. The composition and execution were solid, but the effect the photographer was going for had made his models’ skin look very blue and washed out.

Phlearn Screenshot

Using curves, adjustment layers and other standard tools, Aaron Nace fixes this problem entirely by correcting the skin tones first, and then adding back in the effects that the photographer wanted by colorizing the shadows and even putting in a light effect.

It’s a great look at how to get the end result you want from a photo without sacrificing quality elsewhere in the image.

Check out the video to see how it’s down for yourself and then, when you’re done, be sure to give these techniques a shot and let us know how they work out for you.

(via Phlearn)

Discussion