Embodiments of the present invention recite a computer implemented method and system for estimating skin color from an image. In embodiments of the present invention, an image of a subject and of an imaged reference color set is accessed. In embodiments of the present invention, a controlled infrastructure is not required when capturing the image. At least one skin pixel of the subject is located in the image and a color description of the at least one skin pixel is determined. Then, a color correction function to be applied to the color description of the at least one skin pixel is determined. The color correction function is applied to the color description of the at least one skin pixel to create a modified color description. Finally, the skin color of the subject is estimated based upon an analysis of the modified color description.