I have to admit it: I need help with Color

OK folks I have a confession:
I need help.

I have problems with my photo color correction and control. (Call it “color incontinence"? )

I usually go thru ACR to PS, and try to batch photos with very similar white balances.
The issues arise when I shoot two people (or even subjects) in the same lighting situation and the skin tones of one look fine but then the other one looks too red (or too green) with the same settings.
The issues continue thru the rest of my photos as I’ve tended to edit as the lighting situation dictates. Sunsets get edited different from people, or product, or outdoor shots, or what have you.
The downside of this is evident on my IG feed: it feels lik a friggin potluck of colors and color styles. IG: @AndyMacPhotog or my website portfolio here.
I’m all over the map, and I’d like to fix that—not for follows but so that the people that hire me know what they’re getting when they book me.


I know the popular and hip thing now is LR presets (and buying them from hipster YT/IG media creators-- ).
On the one hand presets makes sense… it’s like shooting film (which I do). You pick a film for your color style and shoot. You live with it or switch films.
Or it's like a LUT I’d use in Final Cut Pro. I get that.


On the other hand this kind of just feels like throwing an IG filter on every dang photograph—even if it doesn’t “work” for some photos. (Do you just not take/publish those photos?).
The current style for portraits/etc seem to be cooler tones, more blues and greens...which does remind me of Fuji Pro 400h (just a little a bit).


I will say that this isn’t as much about “Right” or “wrong” color because of monitor calibration, where photos are viewed et al…I get that. It's also not about printing because I don't do that really.
This is about continuity and style across all my photos. I'm assuming it's going to mean developing a color curve that I like and use consistently?

Is it all that bad in my work? Or am I falling into the trap of just trying to be exactly like everyone else?
Where do I even start sorting out color? How do you find a baseline to launch from for your own work?
How do you guys develop a continuity of color grading and color “style” in your work if you shoot a lot of different subjects?

Have you ever heard the term "color correct by the numbers"?

You ever use the eye dropper tool?

I have not heard that term... (do explain!)
I have used a eye dropper tool in a lot of product work to set my white point since we were shooting on a white background.

Even if you create a custom camera profile, you still have to get the WB correct, as the actual light source changes. The only thing that I can suggest is that you use a grey card in the first shot you do in any particular lighting situation. Then Just use the WB eyedropper tool to set the WB for that situation, and batch them. I said grey card, but it can be white too, just be careful though that the paper doesn't have Optical Brighteners. They cause the paper to fluoresce blue in the UV from the sun.

Alan

Google: color correction by the numbers dan margulis

Back in the early days of desktop publishing, yeah, that's right, desktop publishing, dan toured the country helping slackers like me learn how to understand color theory on a computer.

One of his tricks was to color correct an image on a black and white monitor, no really, a lot of monitors were black and white!!! Not that we were using them, but you could. The one I remember was a landscape with deep blue sky and snow capped Rocky Mountains, trees and stuff. After leading the session with that bit of magic, he pretty much had our attention.

The point is that every color is represented by a color value RGB 0-255. There are pretty hard and fast rules, even if some of the most specific things can be left vague and up to the person behind the mouse. If you can understand what values (ratios) make up good skin tones for certain races and skin types, you can then color correct to those ratios. I'm still a fan of using curves, but there are other ways to work with RGB.

Look into color theory, find some RGB skin tone values online, and start correcting to those. Then always correct to those values as your baseline image and only apply a preset or your own color grading after that.

You might want to contact a guy named Andy Mac who lives in in Western Colorado. Andy shoots using a variety of styles to suit the subject and moment. He probably has to work a little harder than cookie cutter grind out the same product shooters, but the results do seem worth the effort.

Oh yeah, the color sampling eye dropper is your friend, we didn't have that in the 90's.

You can change the info pallet to CMYK to make it a little more intuitive, but ultimately you want to just do it in RGB.

AZGeorge...

uhh...is...there another Andy Mac out here? I was sure I was the only one! (I need to update my location; I live in Western CO).

BigAl, I have a CameraTrax color card "booklet" with a large gray card...I inherited it after a friend passed away.
It's on Amazon
Something like that?

Brisket: I will do that! I remember monochrome monitors...just barely!

If one (of two) people looks color correct, yet the other person is clearly NOT color correct, it is a probable indication that the skin tone for person 1 is not 'per reality' but merely per YOUR EYE.
That is the reason for use of a neutral gray card (or white card) to serve as the reproducible color that IS neutral. If neither too Yellow-Blue or Magenta-Green are unbalanced, then all things in that light should be very close to 'per reality'

In spite of what people think, there is NOT a single version of 'Caucasion' or 'Black' or 'Asian' skin tone!

Wilt wrote in post #18702931
In spite of what people think, there is NOT a single version of 'Caucasion' or 'Black' or 'Asian' skin tone!

If people think that they need to stay out of color correction.

They also need to look a little closer at the mixing of, and multitude of, ethnicities and races around the globe.

Wilt wrote in post #18702931
In spite of what people think, there is NOT a single version of 'Caucasion' or 'Black' or 'Asian' skin tone!

And then it gets more complicated by how light interacts with skin variations. Skin has a range of different pigmentation, but then there's also different translucency with skin (for each person, and different areas of the body). In 3D graphics, this has been quite an ongoing science of "surface scattering" (trying to have different color tones and densities for epidermis and subdermal areas).

As to the original post....if I'm shooting studio lighting (which may have mixed lights with ambient vs my controlled lights), I'll first take a picture with a white card and set custom WB. This is a good baseline for getting every skin tone balanced. But then photography, like most arts, is also about an aesthetic. I'm not afraid to use adjustment masks on a photo I think might look better with some other balance. Usually it's exposure, though....rarely a color difference.

Now a days I'm also always in RGB space: many photo printers process RGB and are no longer CMYK (they have pigments that have more color channels then 4 color to offer better color depth). Though I get consistent color by calibrating my monitor and making sure I specify my correct paper type and quality.

A recent family gathering, and a totally unposed candid (virtual clones for adjustment comparison) taken while waiting for some people to join the group. Four color balances for the shot,

• one, for overall best color balance
  
• two, for pregnant lady in black to not look so greenish
  
• three, for little girl with purple swimsuit straps to not look so magenta
  
• four, for man in white cap to not look so ruddy complexioned
  

Wilt, could you post each image individually? As is, each image is so small, that individuals are harder to focus on.

davesrose wrote in post #18703014
Wilt, could you post each image individually? As is, each image is so small, that individuals are harder to focus on.

One

rogue.guineapig wrote in post #18702846
Is it all that bad in my work? Or am I falling into the trap of just trying to be exactly like everyone else?
Where do I even start sorting out color?

Two suggestions:

1. To sort out a color problem, you can't just describe it in words. You have to show the problem by posting an image.

2. Begin with a single image that you think has a color problem. Leave the batch stuff for later. First learn how to fix color in a single image.