How to Match Skin Tones in Photoshop

Natural light and even studio lighting can sometimes be uneven in group photos. There may be times when matching skin tones between two or more people in a photo makes sense, especially in family portraits. There are also differences in skin tones that can further widen the gap between exposures on each face.

Fortunately, this isn’t a big deal, and you can tweak this in post-processing with Adobe Photoshop. Read on as we’ll show you an easy method to match skin tones in Photoshop.

Do You Need to Match Skin Tones in Photos?

The short and easy answer to this question is no.

However, there may be times when working with group and family portraits when matching skin tones could make the difference between a mediocre portrait and a great one. A great portrait would ideally be one in which nobody stands out or is left out due to uneven lighting, technical issues, or even someone whose skin is more tan or brown from exposure to the sun.

For the sake of this tutorial, we’ll assume that having matching skin tones is desirable. We’ll demonstrate one method for matching skin tones in Photoshop using basic tools like Curves, the Eyedropper tool, and the Brush and Lasso tools. We’ll also make use of a couple of properties panels to match the RGB values of the skin tones precisely.

We’ll break down the process into three phases, as this will make it easy for you to follow along. The one caveat to keep in mind is that matching skin tones is about creating harmony in a photo. Skin tones that are radically different wouldn’t need to be matched but could probably do with the adjusted luminosity values.

Phase 1: Set Up Both Images in Photoshop

Although we’ll be matching two separate photos in this guide, you can easily apply this to multiple people in the same image.

If you’d like to follow along, you can download both images from Pexels here and here. Now, let’s get started.

1. Open the first image in Adobe Photoshop. Then, select the Move (by pressing V) and drag and drop the second image onto the first one.
2. Click on the Create a New Layer (+) icon at the lower-right corner of the Photoshop window. It’s located right next to the trash can icon. Once you click on it, a new blank layer should appear on the right pane, as shown.
3. Click on the Eyedropper tool (by pressing I) and change the Sample Size to 5 by 5 Average using the dropdown below the menu bar.
4. Using the Eyedropper tool, sample the mid-tones (avoid highlights and shadows) area of the skin from the source image on the left.
5. Select the Brush tool (by pressing B). Open the Brush properties dropdown and make sure Hardness is set to 100%.
6. Brush the color onto the blank layer as shown.
7. Click and hold the Alt key for the Eyedropper tool and sample the mid-tones of the skin from the target image.
8. Release the Alt key and paint the color next to the previous sample as shown.
9. Press L for the Lasso tool and trace around the face and skin of the target image on the right.
10. Create a Curves adjustment layer from the menu at the bottom of Photoshop.

What we should be left with are four layers in the right pane, as indicated below.

If you need help with the Brush tool, look at our beginner’s guide to the Photoshop Brush Tool.

Phase 2: Match Skin Tones in Photoshop

Now that we have both images and skin tone swathes in one place, our goal is to match the skin tones. We’ll do this by extracting the RGB values of the darker skin tone and painting them onto our main subject on the right. Follow these step-by-step instructions carefully:

1. Select the Color Sampler tool.
2. Click over the first color patch on the left. A #1 will be placed over the color. Also, the Info panel should appear with the RGB values of the color.
3. Then click over the second color patch. A #2 will be placed over the color, again with the corresponding RGB values noted in the Info panel.
4. Double-click on the Curves layer (not the layer mask). In the Properties panel, enable the On Image Adjustment tool (the hand icon).
5. Press and hold Ctrl+Shift and then click on the second color patch. This will place a point on the Curves panel in the Red, Green, and Blue channels.
6. In the Red channel, change the Output value to 197 (from #1 RGB values in the Info panel). Press Enter.
7. In the Green channel, change the Output value to 150 (from #1 RGB values in the Info panel). Press Enter.
8. In the Blue channel, change the Output value to 96 (from #1 RGB values in the Info panel). Press Enter. The skin tones on our subject should look similar now to the first color patch.
9. In the RGB channel, adjust the brightness of the skin by creating an S Curve with two points, as shown. To learn more about Curves, check out our complete guide to Curves in Photoshop.
10. Now, delete the second image and color sample layers by dragging them into the trash can at the bottom. You can also close out the Properties and Info panels.

You may be left with the two points that were there when we added the Color Sampler points. When you export to JPEG, these won’t show up on your final image, but you can delete them by selecting the Color Sampler and hovering above each point, right-clicking to select, and clicking to delete.

Now, we’re ready for the final steps.

Phase 3: Paint on the New Skin Tones

These final steps are the easiest and the most fun. We will apply the new skin tones to our main subject using the Brush tool and basic masking. This will take care of the imperfect selection that we currently have.

1. Click on the Curves layer mask. With the foreground color set to Black, press Ctrl+Backspace to fill the mask with all black.
2. Press B for the Brush tool.
3. Set the foreground color to White. Press D and then toggle between the D and X keys if necessary.
4. Press B for the Brush tool once more. Change the Hardness of the Brush to 0%.
5. Next, take your time to carefully brush the new color onto the subject’s skin. If you make a mistake and go over the wrong area, toggle the foreground color to Black to erase and then change it back to White to carry on painting. Alternatively, you could also brush off the edges in the mask if it’s less work.
6. Once you finish, have a look at the image. If the effect is too strong, reduce the Opacity of the Curves layer. For our example, we reduced it to 60%.

At this point, you could do more work to fine-tune the image using the Color Balance adjustment tool and various Photoshop filters.

Matching Skin Tones in Photoshop Isn’t Complicated

We’ve shown you how to match the skin tones of two individuals in this tutorial, and as you can see, it’s not very hard at all. Remember that this method applies to group portraits as well. We hope you followed along with us and learned something new that you can use in your own work. Feel free to repeat these steps in your images to see how the results turn out and try to get the hang of the procedure.