Skin The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies

* This practical guide is a complete start-to-finish approach to integrating everything from posing models to shooting and retouching candid scenes * Keeping in mind that achieving accurate skin tones is one of the most challenging tasks in digital photography, professional photographer Lee Varis covers a range of skin: women and men, young and old, various skin tones, studio and outdoor photography, and tattoos * Step-by-step tutorials, as well as before-and-after illustrations, demonstrate various techniques for topics such as digital-specific lighting challenges and what can and cannot be done in post-process * The CD-ROM contains sample image files to use while following the tutorials, plus equipment recommendations and technical reference materials that enhance and reinforce the instruction

What is the color of skin?

A practical guide to photographing people in the digital age

It's one thing to snap someone's picture. It's another thing entirely to capture the essence that made you reach for your camera in the first place. Now a top Hollywood pro shares his secrets for the digital capture of human skin in all its variety: young, old, male, female, different skin tones and ethnicities, with makeup or without even tattooed skin!

Using step–by–step tutorials and stunning full–color examples, industry expert Lee Varis teaches it all: the basics of digital imaging, essential tricks to shooting indoors and out, how to light your subjects in any pose, and much more. Above all, you'll find out why the color of skin that's best for final output is almost always a departure from reality.

Topics include:

• Starting with the right hardware and software settings
• Developing your digital color "chops"
• Mastering Rembrandt lighting and other basic techniques
• Overcoming common digital skin problems, such as too much red
• Adjusting skin tones to withstand nearby colors like green grass
• Faking tattoos and photographing the real thing
• Trimming the fat, lighting up the eyes, and filling in wrinkles
• Adding soft focus, retouching, and other advanced Photoshop® techniques
• Discovering what can and what can't be done in post–process

Follow the tutorials in the book with numerous before–and–after sample image files on the companion CD. You'll also find technical reference materials to enhance and reinforce your learning.

• Know how to soften wrinkles and change shapes and when not to!
• Beautifully color–balance every skin tone
• Brilliantly light any number of subjects in any location

Introduction.

Chapter 1: Digital Imaging Basics.

Chips and Pixels.

Setting Up: Hardware.

Camera.

Memory Cards.

Batteries.

TV Monitor.

Computer.

Monitor and Calibrator.

Setting Up: Software.

Photoshop: Preferences.

Bridge: Preferences and Configurations.

Chapter 2: Color Management,Workflow, and Calibration.

Basic Digital Capture Workflow.

Calibrating for Digital Capture.

Establish Lighting.

Shoot to Bracket the Exposure Range.

View Shots in Bridge and Zero Out Sliders.

Determine the Best Exposure.

Compare the ColorChecker.

Adjust Calibration Sliders.

Save a New Camera Default.

Putting Color Management in Context.

Chapter 3: Lighting and Photographing People.

Lighting Technology.

Basic Portrait Lighting.

Beauty Light.

Rembrandt Lighting.

Natural Light.

On–Camera Flash.

Breaking the Rules.

Advanced Lighting Techniques.

Ring Light.

Combination Lighting: Daylight Plus Flash.

Controlling Natural Light.

Action Stopping Lighting.

Experimenting with Light.

Chapter 4: The Color of Skin.

White Points, Black Points, and Places In–Between.

Zone System: Contrast and Tone.

Neutral Color: Using Balanced Numbers.

Curves: The Basic Color and Tone Tool.

Contrast Control: The Basic Curve Shapes.

Info Palette: Reading Basic Numbers.

White/Black Point Correction.

Adjusting Numbers for the Color of Skin.

The Family of Man: Cultural and Psychological Issues.

Cultural and Personal Color Bias.

Chapter 5: Tone and Contrast: Color and B+W.

Converting to B+W.

The Channel Mixer.

Split Channels: Layer Blending.

Luminosity Blending.

Instant Tan.

When Color Overwhelms: Look for the Good Channel.

Hue/Saturation Toning Effects.

Split–Toning.

Gradient Map Colorizing.

The Power of B+W.

Chapter 6: Retouching.

Basic Image Repair.

Hue/Saturation Color Repair.

Beauty Retouching.

Figure Thinning Techniques.

Subtle Retouching.

Skin Smoothing.

Chapter 7: Special Effects.

Soft Focus.

Basic Diffusion Effect.

Screen Diffusion.

Overlay Diffusion.

Linear Light Diffusion.

Depth of Field Effects.

Lens Tilt Effect.

Film Grain and Mezzotint.

Cross–Processing.

Tattoos.

Faking Tattoos.

Chapter 8: Preparing for Print.

Sharpening.

Unsharp Mask.

Smart Sharpen.

Multiple Sharpening Layers.

Octave Sharpening.

Overlay Sharpening and High–Radius Effects.

Color Management for Print.

Profiles and Look–Up Tables.

Soft Proofing.

Desktop Printing.

Output Simulations.

Creative Print Finishing.

Last Minute Fixes.

Chapter 9: Parting Shots.

Digital Photo Workflow.

Companion CD Contents.

Chapter 2.

Chapter 3.

Chapter 4.

Chapter 5.

Chapter 6.

Chapter 7.

Chapter 8.

Future Developments.

Index.

Lee Varis, a Hollywood photo–illustrator, has been involved in commercial photography for three decades. His images have been featured in National Geographic, Newsweek, and Fortune magazines, and both his writing and photography have been featured in trade journals such as PDN, New Media, and others. His pictures have appeared on movie posters, video box covers, and CD covers, and in numerous brochures and catalogues. He has been a seminar instructor with APA, PPA, Julia Dean Photographic Workshops, and Apple Computer.