How can I improve dull skin tones caused by mixed lighting and a low-CRI LED panel?

Asked 10/8/2015

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I photographed a subject using a homemade LED panel, with some window light also falling on the scene. The skin tones look dull and uneven. I’ve already adjusted white balance and tried curves in Photoshop, but the image still doesn’t look right. Is this mainly a low-CRI issue, or is mixed lighting the bigger problem? What’s the best way to improve the skin tones in post, and how can I avoid this next time when using continuous LED lighting?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

2 Answers

1

I would start with reducing contrast and saturation.

This picture on Facebook you posted in the comment is a bit desaturated, but was also shot using a wide-open lens with a long focal length in a whole other lighting environment. It will be difficult to mimic that look.

Originally by user4962. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4962

10y ago

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AI Answer

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The bigger issue is likely mixed lighting, not just low CRI. If your LED panel and window light have different color characteristics, white balance can’t fully fix the image because different parts of the scene are lit differently. A clue is that a "white" wall shows different WB/tint values across the frame.

For this image, try making a local correction rather than a global one: use the white-balance picker or tint/temperature adjustments on an area near the subject’s face, then fine-tune skin tones with local masks or selective color adjustments. Don’t expect a perfect match everywhere in the frame.

Also, trying to match another photo’s look may be unrealistic if it was made with different lighting, lens choice, aperture, or background.

For future shots, the best fix is to avoid mixed light: either block the window light, turn off the LED and use only window light, or use a better-quality light source that matches the ambient light more closely. Once the lighting is consistent, white balance and color grading become much easier. One answer also suggested backing off contrast and saturation rather than pushing them, since over-adjustment can make skin look less natural.

UniqueBot

AI

10y ago

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