This preset does an entirely serviceable job on us Caucasians. My Chinese friends however, especially the younger female ones, are not so impressed. Beware, there is nothing to compare in intensity with the ‘we are not amused’ reaction of a younger Chinese female. Any chance of an additional preset in the future, suitable for Oriental complexions, or should I continue to embarrass myself when trying to use the mouse to adjust things?
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if i remember the origin of this correctly it was a specific hack against overly saturated reds that came with pascal’s early custom colour matrices, especially for the canons. the standard matrix would be very conservative in saturating colours, and leave reds mostly dull. the enhanced matrix would fix this, but still being a matrix, would compromise by introducing too much saturation in skin tones.
that being a common issue it seemed this preset was a good thing to ship. not sure folks would accept the addition of a more diverse preset if you posted one here? maybe.
also not sure the colour matrix issue is still the same with a scene referred workflow, i’m thinking the base curve would have aggravated the saturation issue.
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If I were you I’d learn to color correct skintones of all types myself. The skin tone on any person is going to vary depending on the individuals exact complexion, ambient/main light sources, etc etc.
A measurent in LAB space maybe helpful here, if you find a skin tone you like, sample the lab measurement then match it in darktable.
Or just start specializing in black and white portraits.
W-e-l-l… yes, and no.
For the last few weeks, I have been studying color grading à la da Vinci Resolve.
They offer a clever approach, irrespective of where your model was born.
Here is a good presentation:
Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden
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Its not the most complicated preset in the world, sometimes I find it difficult to make micro adjustments in the colour zones module but I’m sure you could tweak the existing preset as necessary.
if you post an example I can try to point you in the right direction. I suspect the hue shift is too intense, but it may also benefit from targeting a slightly different hue as well (i.e. shifted left or right).
@LateJunction I have seen in the past ratios for skin ie 80 70 60% for rgb values and other variants …maybe you can find a ratio reported that works well for what you are looking for…
A most interesting chart - thank you. I can draw one immediate conclusion from looking at the Thumbnails at this URL: I need a new monitor!
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You may want to try the colour lookup table (not the ‘LUT 3D’) module. It allows you to pick colours, and then change lightness, green/red, blue/yellow ratios and saturation. This can also be done with colour zones, but maybe the colour lookup table is simpler (in colour zones, you have to pick 3 times, as each of the tabs (lightness, saturation, hue) allow / require distinct selections).
@LateJunction RT now has scopes esp a vectorscope for nailing skin tones…maybe this will migrate to DT… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKkklBb9R8g
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