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#1
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background color for skin photos
i was always taught to use blue as a background when taking pix of
skin; is there a reason for this? i would think that neutral grey would be more appropriate .. tia steve |
#2
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background color for skin photos
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#4
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background color for skin photos
John A. wrote:
On Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:35:57 +1200, Me wrote: David Kilpatrick wrote: wrote: i was always taught to use blue as a background when taking pix of skin; is there a reason for this? i would think that neutral grey would be more appropriate .. tia steve That was in the days of colour negative printing. If you used a brown to grey background, which actually looks best, the auto colour balance of the printing might produce cold skin tones (grey not so big a problem, but any warm colours could turn the skin blue or green in tint). To avoid this a lot of professionals used blue backgrounds, not too strong in colour, for stuff like school portraits where cheaper automated printing would be used. This kept the skin colours warm. In digital photography using fixed WB you can choose any background colour or density you like for portraits. Neutrals have benefits, they don't cast unwanted flare-related light into shadows, or reflected light in the studio. Strong colours call for special care in the studio, and good lenses with efficient coatings. For example, if you shoot on a green backgroun, don't extend it in front of the subject - cover the floor between the camera and subject with white paper. This prevents a green cast being thrown up into the shadows. But if you want the pic to look like an outdoor shot on a lawn, don't use the white paper, the green shadow cast will look natural. Interesting and quite sensible. So if you're using a commercial lab to print these days, and allowing them to make colour adjustments, does the same apply? Or is software used to make automatic colour adjustments "smarter" these days in identifying and preserving skin tones? That's the sort thing embedded color profiles are for. If your monitor is profiled your prints should come out as close to the displayed colors as reasonably and physically possible. Sure, but many labs are set up to ignore embedded profile, assume sRGB, and adjust colour automatically. If you talk colour management to the staff, I expect that their eyes will glaze over, and if you persist, they'll probably call security and have you removed. |
#5
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background color for skin photos
On Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:58:08 +0100, David Kilpatrick wrote:
wrote: i was always taught to use blue as a background when taking pix of skin; is there a reason for this? i would think that neutral grey would be more appropriate .. tia steve That was in the days of colour negative printing. If you used a brown to grey background, which actually looks best, the auto colour balance of the printing might produce cold skin tones (grey not so big a problem, but any warm colours could turn the skin blue or green in tint). To avoid this a lot of professionals used blue backgrounds, not too strong in colour, for stuff like school portraits where cheaper automated printing would be used. This kept the skin colours warm. This is what one would expect from cheap "drug store" photofinishing. With a good photofinisher and experienced operators, there will be no color casts due to background color. And the cost difference between the two extremes was small. And you had your prints the next day, not next week. -- Fotoguy BestInClass.com "Personalized digital camera recommendations" http://www.bestinclass.com/digital-cameras |
#6
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background color for skin photos
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