white balance for portraits

Hi everyone. I am shooting with a D60, with and without flash. All skin tones appear very red and require color adjustment in PS. Can anyone suggest a white balance setting or a custom white balance that would reduce the red and allow skin tones to appear more natural. Since purchasing the D60, I have found my time spent in PS is reduced dramatically which I love, except for skin tones.

Bev

Daylight WB often works for flashes, you should try that first. I would have subjects hold a white card at a good angle and then use that to pick my WB from, you don't want to overexpose the white card in this case. People say that gray cards work better.

Bill

Bev Sampson said:

Hi everyone. I am shooting with a D60, with and without flash.
All skin tones appear very red and require color adjustment in PS.
Can anyone suggest a white balance setting or a custom white
balance that would reduce the red and allow skin tones to appear
more natural. Since purchasing the D60, I have found my time spent
in PS is reduced dramatically which I love, except for skin tones.

Bev

Click to expand...

I use daylight with the flash.

Use a gray card or ExpoDisk. I have instructions on the use of a gray card on my site:

http://www.camerabugdigital.com/instructions

The instructions cover how to use the card/disk in Photoshop. Most people will use the gray card shot to set a custom WB in their camera or set WB during the conversion from RAW. I always just set my WB to Auto and then set the actual WB during the conversion process. But you can apply the techinques I describe for Photoshop to jpg or tif files after the fact

To set the CWB in camera just follow the instruction in your D60 manual, it is easy.

I shoot mostly with a 1D but recently picked up a D60 as a spare. Both cameras suffer from "red skin syndrome". For me personally, the gray card gives the best results. Others will prefer the expodisk.

Mike

Juli Valley said:

I use daylight with the flash.

Click to expand...

http://www.camerabugdigital.com/instructions.htm

CBDigital said:

http://www.camerabugdigital.com/instructions

The instructions cover how to use the card/disk in Photoshop. Most
people will use the gray card shot to set a custom WB in their
camera or set WB during the conversion from RAW. I always just set
my WB to Auto and then set the actual WB during the conversion
process. But you can apply the techinques I describe for Photoshop
to jpg or tif files after the fact

To set the CWB in camera just follow the instruction in your D60
manual, it is easy.

I shoot mostly with a 1D but recently picked up a D60 as a spare.
Both cameras suffer from "red skin syndrome". For me personally,
the gray card gives the best results. Others will prefer the
expodisk.

Mike

Juli Valley said:

I use daylight with the flash.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

The ExpoDisc solve this problem for me!!!!
I love ExpoDisc! This one tool you must have (I am talking about me!)

I do not have time to fix WB in PS for all pictures all the time!
After I got ExpoDisc I do fix WB in PS for maybe 5-10 pictures from 100-500….
--
I'm not good at English, so you may have some trouble in reading...Sorry!
This forum make me spend more мoney than I aver imaging…

D60, 28-70 f/2.8 L, 550ex, ExpoDisk, Newton DI100FR Flash otator Bracket, Lowepro Trim Trekker, What is next?
http://genry.fotki.com

CBDigital, I have read and printed your very informative article on grey card color correction. I am very familiar with levels in PS and do shoot RAW so I will definitely give your suggestions a try. Unfortunately, I threw my grey cards away many years ago and will need to purchase again. Since I do not have access to a Camera shop locally, I guess B&H will be my source. Also,

OldFriend, I will also try to purchase ExpoDisc. I have seen it referenced on this forum but had never heard about the product previously. I will do an internet search to determine where to purchase or if anyone can advise me, it would be greatly appreciated. Also, I will definitely read my manual relative to creating a custom white balance.

Bev

OldFriend said:

The ExpoDisc solve this problem for me!!!!
I love ExpoDisc! This one tool you must have (I am talking about me!)

I do not have time to fix WB in PS for all pictures all the time!
After I got ExpoDisc I do fix WB in PS for maybe 5-10 pictures from
100-500….
--
I'm not good at English, so you may have some trouble in
reading...Sorry!
This forum make me spend more мoney than I aver imaging…
D60, 28-70 f/2.8 L, 550ex, ExpoDisk, Newton DI100FR Flash otator
Bracket, Lowepro Trim Trekker, What is next?
http://genry.fotki.com

Click to expand...

Bev Sampson said:

OldFriend, I will also try to purchase ExpoDisc. I have seen it
referenced on this forum but had never heard about the product
previously. I will do an internet search to determine where to
purchase or if anyone can advise me, it would be greatly
appreciated. Also, I will definitely read my manual relative to
creating a custom white balance.

Bev

OldFriend said:

The ExpoDisc solve this problem for me!!!!
I love ExpoDisc! This one tool you must have (I am talking about me!)

I do not have time to fix WB in PS for all pictures all the time!
After I got ExpoDisc I do fix WB in PS for maybe 5-10 pictures from
100-500….
--
I'm not good at English, so you may have some trouble in
reading...Sorry!
This forum make me spend more мoney than I aver imaging…
D60, 28-70 f/2.8 L, 550ex, ExpoDisk, Newton DI100FR Flash otator
Bracket, Lowepro Trim Trekker, What is next?
http://genry.fotki.com

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
I'm not good at English, so you may have some trouble in reading...Sorry!
This forum make me spend more мoney than I aver imaging…

D60, 28-70 f/2.8 L, 550ex, ExpoDisk, Newton DI100FR Flash otator Bracket, Lowepro Trim Trekker, What is next?
http://genry.fotki.com

Thanks Julie and OldFriend for the information. it looks promising.

Also, I was sad to hear that Canon is discontinuing the D60. What a bummer!

gff

OldFriend said:

Bev Sampson said:

OldFriend, I will also try to purchase ExpoDisc. I have seen it
referenced on this forum but had never heard about the product
previously. I will do an internet search to determine where to
purchase or if anyone can advise me, it would be greatly
appreciated. Also, I will definitely read my manual relative to
creating a custom white balance.

Bev

OldFriend said:

The ExpoDisc solve this problem for me!!!!
I love ExpoDisc! This one tool you must have (I am talking about me!)

I do not have time to fix WB in PS for all pictures all the time!
After I got ExpoDisc I do fix WB in PS for maybe 5-10 pictures from
100-500….
--
I'm not good at English, so you may have some trouble in
reading...Sorry!
This forum make me spend more мoney than I aver imaging…
D60, 28-70 f/2.8 L, 550ex, ExpoDisk, Newton DI100FR Flash otator
Bracket, Lowepro Trim Trekker, What is next?
http://genry.fotki.com

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
I'm not good at English, so you may have some trouble in
reading...Sorry!
This forum make me spend more мoney than I aver imaging…
D60, 28-70 f/2.8 L, 550ex, ExpoDisk, Newton DI100FR Flash otator
Bracket, Lowepro Trim Trekker, What is next?
http://genry.fotki.com

Click to expand...

Mike, I followed your link and eventually ended up in a place where 81a is recommended to be used all the time. Is that a good practice?

Thanks!
B.

CBDigital said:

http://www.camerabugdigital.com/instructions

The instructions cover how to use the card/disk in Photoshop. Most
people will use the gray card shot to set a custom WB in their
camera or set WB during the conversion from RAW. I always just set
my WB to Auto and then set the actual WB during the conversion
process. But you can apply the techinques I describe for Photoshop
to jpg or tif files after the fact

To set the CWB in camera just follow the instruction in your D60
manual, it is easy.

I shoot mostly with a 1D but recently picked up a D60 as a spare.
Both cameras suffer from "red skin syndrome". For me personally,
the gray card gives the best results. Others will prefer the
expodisk.

Mike

Juli Valley said:

I use daylight with the flash.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...