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| Click photo for more images from the book "Skin." |
In reality, there is no ideal skin tone -- skin color is all over the place. There is considerable variation in different ethnicities, ages, and skin conditions -- not to mention makeup! While all this variation exists in the real world, we tend to tolerate much less variety in print for various reasons. One reason is cultural norms, and this can get you into trouble if you're not aware of it.
This is illustrated by the following anecdote, which actually happened to me, and by the final two images in the accompanying slideshow.
The story concerns a job I did in this country for the Belly Dance Twins, Neena and Veena. I did some promotional photography for these two gorgeous Indian dancers -- several of the shots were taken with traditional Indian costumes that were quite colorful.
The Twins were not happy; they thought the skin tone was too dark. To me it looked authentically Indian, which I thought was the whole point. I was not aware of the cultural issue here: dark skin is associated with the lower caste -- pale skin color is more desirable. (In Hindu religious iconography, the color of the various female Devas is almost always very pale, in some cases blue-white.) Everything I did for them had to be revised with a lighter color.
In conclusion, getting the right skin color is far from trivial. Simply calibrating your capture system is not going to guarantee that you will get an ideal skin tone. You have to be prepared to edit the color to satisfy the cultural, personal, or psychological needs of your clients or yourself. There are many creative departures possible as well. You need to develop the color "chops" necessary to get the color you want consistently, and a thorough grounding in Photoshop color editing is an absolute must.
Remember that the color of skin that is acceptable in reproduction is most often a departure from reality. The numbers supplied here are good guidelines, but they are only guidelines. Don't forget that you might need to deviate from these values.
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