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Skin tones when reducing highlights


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I've been getting the opportunity to color grade social media vids but mostly product type shoots with the product being the main focus. I'm taking on personal projects to develop my craft and hopefully get more interesting gigs eventually.

Im currently grading a short film that features an african-american male and an asian female both lit mainly from a single light source above. The initial pass looked great but the director has me crushing the highlights more and more to try and put the actors in a "candle lit" vibe which is a bit of a challenge due to the practical light on set.

I've been working between a balance of lowering the gamma, gain and highlights. While I now have it at a place that feels closer to the look he was hoping for, I am noticing greenish tints around the highlights on the skin. Is this a common side effect of crushing the highlights down or just inexperience on my part?

I've tried all kinds of approaches to eliminate the tint and get the skin tones looking natural again but haven't hit on the magic settings quite yet. Any tips/advice is appreciated.

 

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It is a common issue with retrieving digital highlights that it can introduce tints along the line of magenta or cyan. To eliminate the tint you can desaturate the highlight with a gentle lum vs sat curve. 

Edited by Abby Bader
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1 hour ago, Abby Bader said:

It is a common issue with retrieving digital highlights that it can introduce tints along the line of magenta or cyan. To eliminate the tint you can desaturate the highlight with a gentle lum vs sat curve. 

Thanks Abby. I think the director is asking me to push it past a point that it's not really working but I will give that a go.

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