darker skinned models?

[leejt1986]

Im shooting a model over the weekend who is of Middle Eastern descent. I've only shot Caucasian models so I'm a bit worried about exposure. Anyone have experience with this that could give me tips?

 

[tirediron]

Depending on the skin tone, add 1/3 - 1/2 stop of EC and chimp.

 

[leejt1986]

here's a photo of her, she's not too dark skinned..but its still something id worry about

 

[FattyMcJ]

Im shooting a model over the weekend who is of Middle Eastern descent. I've only shot Caucasian models so I'm a bit worried about exposure. Anyone have experience with this that could give me tips?

I shot my first non-caucasian model a while ago for his senior portraits and I swear I thought I was the only one that had the same question.

Depending on the skin tone, add 1/3 - 1/2 stop of EC and chimp.

^exactly what I did. Chimped...a lot.

What I learned, at least with this gentleman (he's in my Flickr if you'd like to see), was that the highlights were more pronounced in his skin so my shoot through umbrella was necessary to diffuse that a bit, I cranked up the flash power and moved the light a bit farther away than normal too.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

 

[Infidel]

Im shooting a model over the weekend who is of Middle Eastern descent. I've only shot Caucasian models so I'm a bit worried about exposure. Anyone have experience with this that could give me tips?

Interesting question...as far as I know, this was a pretty real issue when film was more commonly used. I remember reading an article in Popular Photography a few years ago that discussed this issue. Apparently, Kodak used to market a particular type of film pretty heavily in India (might have been a type of Portra; sorry, I'm foggy on the details) because it rendered darker skin tones much more faithfully.

 

[Christie Photo]

Don't forget about the ratio of light on the background. When I photograph black people, I'll drag my background light a foot or more away from the background than for whites.

-Pete

 

[tirediron]

That skin? I wouldn't worry about that at all. That's so near caucasian that you might have to adjust a fraction of a stop, but that's about all.

 

[skieur]

If you shoot her against a bright background as you have here, then the danger is the over-exposure you see on the right hand side. Adding to the exposure works best when the light is even throughout the frame, otherwise you end up with other problems.

I would shoot on a bright, cloudy day or totally in the shade. That would even the lighting and exposure but the colour temperature would need to be warmed up a bit to negate the slightly blue shade. Using a reflector would also diffuse the light, as would a flash with a diffuser on it, to mention other possibilities.

Afterward, many model photographers use a portrait plug-in to Photoshop or software filter plug-ins to get the skin colour as close to their memory of it, as possible.

By the way, you can easily see problems in your shots, if your exposure "seems" satisfactory, but the skin colour is slightly different in every shot.

skieur

 

[Christie Photo]

That skin? I wouldn't worry about that at all.

Oh, yeah. No worries with this girl.

-Pete

 

[DerekSalem]

lol i can't stand people using "Caucasian" unless it's a job application.

You guys realize black/white aren't offensive terms...right?

 

[skieur]

lol i can't stand people using "Caucasian" unless it's a job application.

You guys realize black/white aren't offensive terms...right?

I believe that today's politically correct term is African/American, even if the person is neither African nor American. Caucasian will probably only be appropriate until tomorrow, too.

Its getting hard to keep up with the ever changing politically correct terms.

skieur

 

[FattyMcJ]

lol i can't stand people using "Caucasian" unless it's a job application.

You guys realize black/white aren't offensive terms...right?

Indeed, they aren't offensive, but as for me...I use the terms above in a more scientific sense. Not the ethnicity sense.

IMO- "Black" is not as accurate as "dark(er) skin tones" because let's face it, there are MANY different shades of dark skin tones as exemplified here; and "White" is not as accurate as "caucasian" with relation to, for example, an "albino" or even a typical redheaded person skin tones.

That's my reason for not using "black/white" in the above posts, can't speak for others.

 

[ChevyBaby]

lol my mum still insists on whispering 'coloured'. I tend to just say whatever ethnisity people are from coz the whole issue irritates the crap out of me if im honest.

 

[phiya]

Depending on the skin tone, add 1/3 - 1/2 stop of EC and chimp.

I'm still trying to figure out what "chimp" means... can someone please enlighten me.

 

[Infidel]

Depending on the skin tone, add 1/3 - 1/2 stop of EC and chimp.

I'm still trying to figure out what "chimp" means... can someone please enlighten me.

Enlightenment