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Author   Topic : "colors to achieve realistic skin tones using Photoshop CS2"
aimee
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Joined: 12 May 2008
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Location: London
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 1:37 pm     Reply with quote
Hello everyone,

I am very new here just joined. I am also a newbie with photoshop and love colourizing old black and white photos, which is a great interest of mine. I have been practicing colourizing black and white photo using layer masks with photoshop, I found it very hard to achieve realistic facial skin tones digitally, as old painters like leonardo and others greats like him. Can some please tell me the colors to use to get realistic skin tones. Or the best way to colourize with photoshop to achieve great results.


Any reply would be much appreciated.

many thanks in advance

regards


aimee
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balistic
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Joined: 01 Jun 2000
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Location: Reno, NV, USA
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 6:06 pm     Reply with quote
When colorizing monochromatic pictures, it's not enough to simply put flat color underneath the shading layer; you need to consider the scattering of light within the skin itself. Here are some short primers by James Gurney on the subject:

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/05/subsurface-scattering.html
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/05/subsurface-scattering-ii.html

In short, it's all about adding reds (blood) and yellows (fat) to the transitional zones between light and shadow.

Try that, and I bet it will liven up your subjects.
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Drew
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Joined: 14 Jan 2002
Posts: 495
Location: Atlanta, GA, US
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:02 pm     Reply with quote
aimee wrote:
I found it very hard to achieve realistic facial skin tones digitally, as old painters like leonardo and others greats like him.

I think you wandered into the answer yourself. The masters like Leonardo were exceptionally talented, intelligent, and dedicated. There aren't any special colors in a face, really. You'll find all of them in one painting or another. All you can really do is study and practice. I'm sorry if that doesn't seem helpful, but it seems like you're asking us how to paint, which is obviously a very broad question that can't be answered in a few posts.
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aimee
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Joined: 12 May 2008
Posts: 3
Location: London
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:52 am     Reply with quote
balistic wrote:
When colorizing monochromatic pictures, it's not enough to simply put flat color underneath the shading layer; you need to consider the scattering of light within the skin itself. Here are some short primers by James Gurney on the subject:

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/05/subsurface-scattering.html
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/05/subsurface-scattering-ii.html

In short, it's all about adding reds (blood) and yellows (fat) to the transitional zones between light and shadow.

Try that, and I bet it will liven up your subjects.


Hi balistic,

Thanks ever so much for your reply and for the links much appreciated. I just want to master colourizing like the masters but digitally, I am sure it can be achieved using photoshop with practice.

many thanks

cheers


aimee Smile
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aimee
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Joined: 12 May 2008
Posts: 3
Location: London
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2008 1:05 am     Reply with quote
Drew wrote:
aimee wrote:
I found it very hard to achieve realistic facial skin tones digitally, as old painters like leonardo and others greats like him.

I think you wandered into the answer yourself. The masters like Leonardo were exceptionally talented, intelligent, and dedicated. There aren't any special colors in a face, really. You'll find all of them in one painting or another. All you can really do is study and practice. I'm sorry if that doesn't seem helpful, but it seems like you're asking us how to paint, which is obviously a very broad question that can't be answered in a few posts.


Hi Drew,

thanks ever so much for your reply. like mentioned above, I want to achieve like the great masters, I have studied a primary color tutorial for a year now using just blue, red and gold with white masks on photoshop, but the result doesn't meet my requirements, therefore i decided to actually learn about how an artist painted faces and receive reallistic skin tone complexion, if i can study what colour paint they use, i can do the same with photoshop. i know i can practice i've done that for a year, what i want to master is knowing i am using the proper colours needed to get real skin tones, some say four some say five colours and as this forum seems to concentrate on artist type painting I thought it was a good site to join and i am glad i did. I don't expect people to answser all my questions but i think a basic question of how many colours needed to get real skin tones is not too much to ask, the rest i will practice from that, if you get my drift.

thanks

cheers


aimee Rolling Eyes
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fruity_loops
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Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 111
Location: Vienna, Austria
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:42 am     Reply with quote
This tutorial is quite good imo:

http://www.gfxartist.com/features/tutorials/14030
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