What is skin color?
The human skin is attracting considerable attention because it’s a rich source of both biological and emotional information (Nishino et al., 2012). We know that skin colour is unique. Although there are similarities between tones, the pigmentation associated with them differs not only due to the amount, but also due to the type, size, and distribution of melanin and/or haemoglobin (Costin & Hearing, 2007). Evidence shows that our perception of skin colour is greatly influenced also by sun exposure and seasons beyond the tone that melanin alone creates.
How many colours the skin colour is?
When trying to account for the different hues, we need to account for the perceptual variations that the skin texture creates. According to Xu and Yaguchi (2005), texture structures strongly influence the colour perceived as skin colour. Kikuchi et al. (2019) also noted that the fluctuation of melanin/haemoglobin, which determines skin colour, varies depending on the facial part. Their distribution is far from even, creating areas on the face with different colours. For example, red cheeks, dull eyes, or a suntanned forehead all appear on one person, contributing to the perceived final skin colour. (Kikuchi et al., 2019). Huedentity uses an analysis method that works with an estimated 16K individual colours detected on the skin. Even this is a result of a great reduction, the absolute number of different colours of a person’s skin can be multiple times higher.
What do we perceive as skin colour?
Lightness is one of the factors that affect the hue perception of the skin. As an earlier study showed, in high-lightness regions of the face, the reddish colour of the skin appeared brighter/whiter when compared to a yellowish skin colour in similar settings. While, a low chroma skin colour appeared whiter/brighter when compared to that of a high chroma in similar settings (Yoshikawa et al., 2019). Demonstrating that the perception of skin colour is subjective, occurring within the mind and is influenced by individual bias, and when compared to measured attributes like metric lightness of the skin, the numbers did not align.
Texture is also considered a significant factor in influencing the final outcome since it affects the reflectance of the skin and changes the perception of hue (Luo et al., 2015). Since the fluctuation of the melanin and/or haemoglobin pigments, which determine skin colour, varies not just by facial part, but also by season, it would be hard to arrive to a one steady skin colour for any given person. Instead, the colour of the skin dynamically changes with time, condition, texture, and lightning, providing a moving target when it comes to personal colour analysis.
The Huedentity distinct general tone
To overcome the challenges, Huedentity creates a so called distinct general tone for each person. This colour is a dynamically created perceptual summary of the colors of the skin that provides a singular representation of the variety of hues involved. This tone is not merely a single shade; rather, it is calculated from an estimated 16,000 distinct colors that contribute to the final impression of skin color. The skin tone calculation process adapts to different lighting conditions and environmental factors using advanced imaging technologies to analyze skin tones and to provide accurate color matches.
Summary
As misunderstood as it is, human skin colour is not a single colour. Instead, a variety of different hues that changes with the season, age, health condition, and within regions of the face and body. It is necessary for any personal colour analysis that aims to match colours for such a moving target as human skin is to be flexible enough. Our goal with Huedentity is to achieve that and provide a modern solution that makes dynamics colour advisory available.