I'm using a Nikon 900 with an Epson Photo 700. Image quality is great when printed but flesh tones are a pastel-like (person looks like he/she has on a lot of make-up). Screen image looks fine, skin tones natural. What can be done on the printer settings to make flesh tones more realistic? These are images taken with a flash indoors.

-- Brad Wong (bmwong@home.com), March 07, 1999

Answers

Don't know about printer settings, but if you can bump your "gamma" up in an image editing application, it might help. A relatively weak (1/2 stop or so) Neutral Density filter on the camera lens could do a lot too. - The CP900 meters the flash through an external sensor rather than through the lens, so a weak ND filter over the lens will cut the intensity a bit, and help avoid blowing-out the skin tones.

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), March 09, 1999.

I also have been somewhat disappointed with skin tones with the Nikon CoolPix 900s. Fleshtones are often blown out by the flash, especially on head & shoulder shots. Also the pictures are often too flat, so I have learned to use Curves in Photoshop to increase the contrast in the skin tones. This usually helps quite a bit for me. I appreciate the comment re: the ND filter. I feel the Nikon exposure system is not what I expected from a $700 camera - I would think the flash would cut back on its power output when the main subject is within 3 feet of the camera.

-- Rick Stare (thestares@aol.com), March 16, 1999.