SKIN TONE

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

If you are just starting out using studio strobes, and are having problems getting accurate skin tones, you might be better off using a Kelvin white balance instead of Auto white balance.

Auto white balance is often quite good at judging proper color temperatures, however it has its limitations, especially when there are people in a group with different skin tones. If your camera has the ability to adjust the Kelvin temperature (check your manual), you will do well to set the white balance to approximately 5600 K. Most strobes differ slightly in their own daylight colors, however if you experiment with 5500 K to 5800 K, you will be able to find out the best combination for your camera and studio strobes.

If you are not getting into studio photography, but use a normal on-camera flash, you too can enjoy the accuracy of the Kelvin white balance. Simply set it to 5600 K whenever you are doing flash photography, and your photos will probably turn out better than you expect.

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