I made some progress tonight. My first attempt (1) turned out the best. SSS is activated and everything but it's intensity and color are set default, and the translucency channel I've set to color, using the same color the SSS employs (a dull red). Image 3 is the same, but translucency (in the translucency channel, not the SSS channel) is turned off. In the center, image 2, I've raised the SSS channel's translucency from 10% to 90%, thinking perhaps I could get a result more like the first without fiddling at all with the main translucency node. As you can see, this isn't the case. So I think I'm closer now. The color in the first image seems close to accurate, but I need to tone down the intensity. Holding a light up to the back of my ear, I see it's mostly the "interior pools" (I don't know what they're called) that are lit up enough to see blood, not the outer rim of the ear. How do I place both a color and value in the translucency channel? I'm sure it's very easy. What kind of results are you getting bwtr?