Here is a still from this testing session. I've tried to implement what you guys told me regarding key and fill lighting, and hopefully that part is better. But I do seem to have a bit too much red in my face, yeah?

I don't know right off hand if there is one specifically for skin tones in Vegas, so what you might have to do is watch how it is done in any other NLE and simply transfer those concepts over to Vegas. Vegas does have a nice set of color correction tools now. I've always liked Larry Jordan, but he's not a Vegas guy. But still, if you watch the tutorials, you can figure out what you need to do in Vegas all the way to applying animated masks now, so the correction can be isolated to just the face if needed.

Red Giant also has Cosmo, that plugs into Vegas and that's pretty quick and easy, but it is expensive and probably overkill for what you need.

Here's a couple of his tutorials.

Thanks. I'll check those out.

Here's my take. Start there, and make tiny adjustments until it suits you.

Lighting is much better. Congratulations!

It's just your camera's white balance. Also, this image is quite soft. What camera are you using?

I don't know right off hand if there is one specifically for skin tones in Vegas, so what you might have to do is watch how it is done in any other NLE and simply transfer those concepts over to Vegas. Vegas does have a nice set of color correction tools now. I've always liked Larry Jordan, but he's not a Vegas guy. But still, if you watch the tutorials, you can figure out what you need to do in Vegas all the way to applying animated masks now, so the correction can be isolated to just the face if needed.

Red Giant also has Cosmo, that plugs into Vegas and that's pretty quick and easy, but it is expensive and probably overkill for what you need.

Here's a couple of his tutorials.

 

 

He talks a lot about "the skin tone line" in the Vectorscope. And it SEEMS he means a line that goes 45 degrees up and to the left. But I'm not seeing an actual definition of that. Do you know how he actually defines the skin tone line? This is important because in the 2nd tutorial, he sees a flatter line and says it's too yellow and needs correction to get it back to the skin tone line. Thoughts?

Skin tone line is just a starting point, but a pretty good one. Vegas scopes don't show it.

The AAVColorLab tool is all you need for this job.

Here's my take. Start there, and make tiny adjustments until it suits you.

Lighting is much better. Congratulations!

It's just your camera's white balance. Also, this image is quite soft. What camera are you using?

 

 

Thanks! I'm using a Canon Vixia HF21.

Really? Take it in and have the lens professionally cleaned. Don't try to do it yourself, because the coating is very fragile

Did you white balance?

I did do a custom white balance. I have a white balance reference card and put it where I would be standing. Then I zoomed in to where it filled the screen and hit the button to set the white balance. I've always had a soft image from this camera. I was advised to just use a sharpen effect in Vegas, which is what I've always done. So how do I know for certain the lens is dirty? When you mentioned it last time, I just wiped it with Windex. Are you saying I might have damaged the lens that way? Sheesh!

Skin tone line is just a starting point, but a pretty good one. Vegas scopes don't show it.

The AAVColorLab tool is all you need for this job.

 

I'm pulling reds down in AAVColorLab all the time. Usually down to 75% or a little higher. depends on the face :)

Canon glass is better than that, or they've really gone downhill. Do you know if its ever been dropped?

Don't use Windex. Use a cleaner designed for camera lenses.

I did do a custom white balance. I have a white balance reference card and put it where I would be standing

Maybe your white balance card is a little too cool for portraiture. What color temperature are your lights?

Canon glass is better than that, or they've really gone downhill. Do you know if its ever been dropped?

Never been dropped, as far as I can remember. I've had the thing for like 8 or 9 years. But I don't think it has ever been dropped.

I did do a custom white balance. I have a white balance reference card and put it where I would be standing

Maybe your white balance card is a little too cool for portraiture. What color temperature are your lights?

The key light is a 5,600K CFL. The fill is a an RX-8T 5,600. both have diffusion over them.

I bought some camera lens cleaning stuff today from the local camera shop and cleaned my lens with it. You had mentioned that my image looked a bit too soft. Here is an image from a test I did AFTER cleaning the lens. Does the image look sharper to you? I also put some makeup on under my eyes to help make it look less white. Thoughts?

Yes it is sharper and WB looks right, too.

Fix the gap in the backdrop and you're almost ready for prime time!

You can easily add matching side panels in post.

Those flesh tones remind me of the old VHS tapes which are almost in-correctable. I doubt a 2 million dollar pro conversion machine can correct that. But remember this-- I am an armature and most of the time I am wrong.

Yes it is sharper and WB looks right, too.

Fix the gap in the backdrop and you're almost ready for prime time!

You can easily add matching side panels in post.

 

Thanks! I have an ACTUAL backdrop. That stuff behind me is just acoustic foam. Thanks so much for the feedback!

Face skin almast always has red spots, because you have blood, especially on cheeks. All you need - is "cosmo" from Red Giant. You can also use beutybox, imagenomic for video, bcc, etc. But cosmo is better for just toning you skin.

Those flesh tones remind me of the old VHS tapes which are almost in-correctable. I doubt a 2 million dollar pro conversion machine can correct that. But remember this-- I am an armature and most of the time I am wrong.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=armature

:)

Here's a good tutorial on color grading skin tones.

Watch from the beginning for good tips on color grading techniques.