Cool Key Beauty Tone Work

Beauty retouching

A beauty portrait on a deep blue key, with skin tone corrected away from the background and eye detail brought up.

Skin
Colour
Studio

Service: Beauty Retouching

The same portrait with warm neutral skin and eye detail lifted clear of the background — Drag anywhere on the image, or focus the handle and use the arrow keys, to compare before and after.

Beauty portrait on a deep blue background with a cool cast across the skin — Drag anywhere on the image, or focus the handle and use the arrow keys, to compare before and after.

Project overview

A strong blue key cools the skin and reduces the separation between the subject and the backdrop. The eye make-up is the frame's detail and it is competing with the background's own blue.

Transformation details

Skin was corrected back to a warm neutral with the background left at full saturation, which restores the separation without touching the backdrop.
The eye make-up was lifted in local contrast so it reads as a distinct colour rather than as part of the field behind.
Skin was evened with frequency separation and the natural specular on the cheek and lip kept.
The head wrap's edge was cleaned where the blue had bled into it.