Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/11/19

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Subject: [Leica] Red skin tones
From: leica at rcmckee.com (R. Clayton McKee)
Date: Sat Nov 19 15:00:13 2005

On 19 Nov 2005 at 17:36, Robert Stevens wrote:

> I was shooting a football game today and noticed my 400mm gave 
> reddish skin tones.    It was only on this picture for the rest on 
> the card the skin tones seemed more normal.  What do you think the problem 
> was?

What you've got there is a condition the lab techs refer to as 
"subject failure."  There are some situations and subjects which, by 
their nature, are so far removed from reality or reason that there is 
simply no combination of light, film, and emulsions (or pixels) which 
will render them in any recognizably "correct" fashion.

If you MUST photograph these things, the recommended approach is to 
use a good B&W film or to do something, such as cross-processing, 
which will render the subject in an *obviously* surreal fashion, in 
hopes that your viewers will assume that you MEANT it to look that 
way.

Far better, of course, is to simply find more useful subject 
matter... rocks, peeling paint, throwdown ducks or fighter planes.

--


R. Clayton McKee                           http://www.rcmckee.com
Photojournalist                               rcmckee@rcmckee.com
P O Box 571900                           voice/fax   713/783-3502
Houston, TX 77257-1900                   cell phone #  on request


In reply to: Message from leica at robsteve.com (Robert Stevens) ([Leica] Red skin tones)