Adjusting Tint and Saturation

The color values of skin tones vary by subject. In addition, ideal skin tone values are affected by the environment where the image was shot and by any overall aesthetic color considerations that the photographer prefers (such as, for example, going for a sepia-toned image). Our particular model's fair skin should have a blue value just below the midtone value of 128, a green value 10 percent or so above midtone, and a relatively high red value that is closer to three-quarter tone than midtone. This will give her a nice healthy skin tone that is imbued with the warm light of the Florida sun.

1.	In the Tint controls of the Exposure controls group, drag the circle in the center of the Gray color wheel up and to the right until it is at about the 2 o'clock position and about three-quarters of the way to the outer edge. The image color warms up considerably. Note Dragging the midtone toward the orange/amber area of the color wheel is similar to using a glass or gelatin warming filter on a camera lens.
2.	Select and deselect the Exposure checkbox a few times to turn the effect off and on. When you're done, make sure the box is selected. Sometimes it helps to see a subtle effect by toggling it off and on. Not only can you see the effect on the image as you do so, but the main histogram also updates as you select and deselect the checkbox. This image is almost done; we just need to pump up the saturation a bit to finish it.
3.	Drag the Saturation slider to 1.06. The Saturation adjustment adds a little extra color to the entire image. It looks greatthe image is finished. The Grande Agency may make other adjustments, but your job is done.

Comparing Images

Before we adjust the sidewalk image, let's quickly see how our adjusted tropical image compares.

1.	Press H to hide the Adjustments HUD.
2.	Press Option-U to switch the Viewer to Multi mode. Viewed side by side, the images look as though they were shot in completely different locations many hours apart. In fact, they were shot within an hour of each other. Our next task will be to adjust the sidewalk image to match the changes you've made to the tropical image so that the two are consistent.