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Return to the April 2009 issue of the SMS Register.
In the Flesh: Getting skin tones right
Among the toughest things to get right when it comes to image reproduction are flesh tones, which can range from sallow to sunburnt to stygian. Since the printed piece will only be as good as the file you submit, doing some basic color correction upfront will help to ensure that your “people pictures” look as good as they can.
The original version of the photo here (a digital camera-snapshot of a printed page) was supplied to us in CMYK, in high resolution, in the correct color space. So far, so good. The printed version, though, looks a bit dark — especially in the face.
Although a contract proof would have indicated a problem before the image was on press, the cost of creating contract proofs for every image can add up quickly. In a case like this one, it’s not only possible but smart to make some adjustments to the original without even looking at a proof.
Skin tones in CMYK
Every image and every person is different, with different levels of contrast. And, of course, image context and composition can also have a fairly significant bearing on your latitude here. However, we’ve found the following guidelines to be helpful when reviewing faces.
Most Caucasian skin tones have a little more yellow than magenta, and little or no black. A fair-skinned Caucasian adult could be as low as 12 to 15 percent magenta and 14 to 17 percent yellow. The key points to remember are that (1) there should usually be more yellow than magenta, and (2) the cyan value should fall between 18 to 25 percent of the magenta value. If there's more magenta than yellow, skin tones will look too red, and you’ll wonder why people look like they’ve been in the sun too long. The sunburn effect will be intensifed by a cyan value of less than 12 percent of the magenta value, while too much cyan will give faces a purplish cast.
African American skin can be more challenging to reproduce, but a good starting point — depending on the contrast — might be 45C 50M 60Y 20K. Keep in mind that yellow and magenta values should be fairly close.
Asian and Hispanic skin will typically have 8 to 15 percent more yellow than magenta.
So, how does this guidance apply to our original file?
Here, even if we don't touch anything else, the one thing that really jumps out is the amount of black. It definitely played a factor in the print reproduction, making the face darker than we want.
To fix this, we need to go into Photoshop and adjust the black curve. Go to Image > Adjust > Curves, and choose the black channel. We’re going to adjust the quarter-tones (those tones of black that are around 25%) downward, by clicking on the curve and dragging it down. Check out the modified curve here:
Next, we want to adjust the curve for the black at the ¾-tone back to its original setting to make sure we don’t lose any overall contrast (that is, we’re going to leave those values of black that are at the high end alone).
There! By removing some of the black, we’ve brightened up the face so it will look better when printed, as well as on screen. We also applied a little overall brightening (Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast, +25), which helps take the black amounts down further.
Download a PDF version of this article.
Return to the April 2009 issue of the SMS Register.
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