There are a lot of photographers that struggle to achieve the desired skin color and overall picture color with a particular preset. In most cases, such a situation occurs due to the «Temp» and «Tint» white balance settings that were not set correctly in the camera settings during shooting.
White balance is subjective and the right one is up to the artist. Here is just a quick example of how your starting white balance affects your edits and the main reasons why your preset doesn't look right.
NEUTRAL / COOL / WARM picture example straight out of camera
TAP Fuji 400H normal +2 (V6) applied on each.
Speaking about this shot, we can say that technically correct white balance is presented in the first example, but the combination of colors within the frame leads to the second shot looking just as interesting and artistic, although the settings are shifted into a cold, technically incorrect white balance. In another possible example, this WB shifting could affect the perception of the image in a much more negative way.
The pictures taken under the right conditions with the absence of unneeded shade cast, correct light, and properly (to your taste) adjusted white balance directly from the camera can be edited literally in one click.
The question arises: why do photographers also need to be good editors or hire an experienced private photo editor / boutique editing service if they can only learn to shoot very correctly, carefully prepare the shot and just apply a preset after all?
Those photographers who shoot weddings and other projects that involve a share of spontaneity and stressful situations know that there are inevitable difficulties in shooting, due, among other things, to the fact that the photographer has a very limited ability to choose the conditions in which he works and the final RAW files are very different from the ideal and have a lot of flaws that need to be corrected in post.
In that case, the pictures have to be edited much deeper, and just by applying presets and adjusting the white balance the desired result is not achieved. To maintain the desired consistency skin tones throughout the whole catalog experienced editors often have to connect "HSL / Color" and "Split Toning" tabs and the new tab "Color Grading" which appeared in the 10 updates Lightroom and allows you to bring digital and film matching to a whole new level of accuracy.
These are much more advanced tools that allow you to achieve very accurate skin tones and surroundings. The difficulty to work with them is that there's no precise set of rules that will allow you to achieve the result.
settings will be different for everyone, according to their tastes and particular RAW file conditions.
Experience matters! Matching pictures for a wedding photographer's private photo editor relies on his taste, his observation, his sense of color balance developed by dozens of hours of editing. We suggest you transfer that part to the capable hands of a dedicated photo editor and focus on what you do best - taking pictures!
Few Before/After from this incredibly beautiful shot. (Color editing without preset, just sliders and curves + advanced skin retouching).
Shot with Sony A7III + Canon 50mm f 1.2
f you feel that you are close to our views on editing and you have already thought about hiring a dedicated private photo editor for your wedding and portrait shoots, don't hesitate to fill out a simple waiting list form. In case we still have spots, we will be happy to get to know you better and help you with your photo editing!
