How to Darken Skin Tone

Today we’re editing Scott Crumley’s image!

First we’ll start off by removing a pole out of the background because its distracting. Usually this can be done pretty easily with a clone stamp and the right brush settings.

The first way to darken skin can be done with an adjustment layer. We’ll use Selective Color to alter certain colors, bringing down the reds and adding a little bit of yellow. Then bring down the magenta and cyan. This isn’t a perfect solution but will work.

Next step is to make a new layer and go to Select- Color Range. That will load the red into a selection, and once we make a new Curves Adjustment Layer it will load that as a layer mask.

I’ll try dragging down each color to see the results. The reason I go into each color channel is to give more control over which tones are getting darker. Curves are a great tool!

Episode Timeline

• 0:35- Removing the pole
• 2:10- Using Selective Color adjustment layer
• 2:45- Making a selection with skin tones
• 3:13- Using Curves
• 3:30- Adjusting each color
• 5:00- Before and After
• 5:30- Newsletter today

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