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Dark skinned portrait ?

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bullhead

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I've been asked to take some portrait shots for an Afro-Caribbean family, this would be the first time that i have photographed dark skinned children and adults, any tips or help on metering and lighting technique would be much appreciated, they are a lovely family and i want to get it bang on for them, thanks in advance as usual for any help. Some examples would be be great if at all possible.

John.
 
I can't post any examples right now, but the main thing to remember is that with a darkskinned person the complexion is defined by highlights unlike a fairskinned person where we use shadows for the same thing.

Average fair skin is zone6, dark skin zone5
--
Anders

'It is nice to be important but it is more important to be nice'
 
on exposure-

note that if you take a picture of a snow scene you have to use exposure compensation to let more light in or the snow has a greyish tint and is not white and bright enough. the meter is trying to make the snow a 18% reflectance for the average scene but snow is not it is brighter.

for taking pics of afro-american you have the opposite problem and result. you will have to let LESS light in or the skin will come out too light. but there is also another problem in that afro-american skin darkness vaties quite a bit, so there is not hard rule for how much light you have to reduce for the skin darkness to come out natural.

my strong advice is to take test shots and view them on a calibrated monitor till the skin is the correct darkness. then take the rest of the series once you know the negative exposure compensation.
 
Last year 50% of my wedding business was with African American clients. I get tons of African American clients because I think delivering good skin tones is the key. Essentially, I meter of the face and let everything else take care of itself. In weddings this is tough, because the skin is dark and the dress is white. So, many times I blow out the highlights. I keep telling myself, I am a skin photographer, period.

Here are some examples of a very dark bride, but excellently made up. If you look throughout my portfolio, you will see other examples.

Here are some everyday ideas: have the couple wear brightly colored clothes, but no all white. If the bride does not wear makeup, her face will look washed out.

http://www.tomolympus.smugmug.com/gallery/2727971#144769268-L-LB
Thomas J. Kolenich
 
Thomas is correct.... meter for the face, NOT the dress! I've seen too many portraits that feature a black mass with two white eyes and maybe some white teeth peeking through. It's not what they look like and it's not very flattering.

One thing that I like to do for dark-skinned portraits sometimes is to add some rim-lighting in order to better separate them from the background. The title page of my website has two such portraits, although it's far more subtle in the couple's engagement shot. In both cases, we are outside, with the subjects in the shade, using our own lights. In the bridal portrait, the rim light is actually the near-setting sun, which I like to take advantage of whenever possible. Hey, it's one less strobe to set up! Her album also has some studio portraits that use rim and strong backlighting. This bride is often told how she resembles her mother, so I tried to emulate in the studio a little of the pose and look of a portrait I had seen of her.

In the couple's wedding album, you'll see a lot of rim lighting at the reception. The videographer was one of those constantly in-your-face types, so I laid back a bit with a long lens almost opposite to him and got some non-flash shots using his bright video light as a bright rim light. Of course, I still had to expose for skin, which made his light about 1 to 1 1/2 stops brighter, but that's a typical ratio which I use in the studio.

The title page can be found here: http://www.michaelphoto.net

The complete album presentations of each of the respective weddings can be found here:
http://www.michaelphoto.net/venus
http://www.michaelphoto.net/lesley
Thomas Kolenich said:
Last year 50% of my wedding business was with African American
clients. I get tons of African American clients because I think
delivering good skin tones is the key. Essentially, I meter of the
face and let everything else take care of itself. In weddings this is
tough, because the skin is dark and the dress is white. So, many
times I blow out the highlights. I keep telling myself, I am a skin
photographer, period.

Here are some examples of a very dark bride, but excellently made up.
If you look throughout my portfolio, you will see other examples.

Here are some everyday ideas: have the couple wear brightly colored
clothes, but no all white. If the bride does not wear makeup, her
face will look washed out.

http://www.tomolympus.smugmug.com/gallery/2727971#144769268-L-LB
Thomas J. Kolenich
Click to expand...
--
Michael Thomas Mitchell
http://michaelphoto.net
 
Great link, Curtis. I took Monte's course in 2006 and he is the best.
--
Thomas J. Kolenich
 
Your LCD is your best friend and will give you a example of what you need to do as far as adjustments. Darker skinn subjects are the easiest. It's the light reflective type like children and lighter skinned adults that can give you a harder time.

I would shoot natural light if you know how to do that. Hopefully one is not extremly dark and if that is the case posisition them closer to the light or angle a reflector to hit them more.

Here are some of mine. I really love shooting women of color. Some have the nicest color (no pun intended) they were all taken at a wedding and were without any flash or reflector. Camera was a D2H and a 70-200VR

Hope tghis helps, Fred James

























 
With dark skinned subjects in the studio I warn them to stay away from white. And this is because I usually open up 1/2 a stop on my D200. When you do this, it will blow the whites. Actually I prefer that most people stay away from white, with the exception of brides' of course!
 
On a related note, any specific thoughts about the best background colors to use for shooting African-Americans? I have a large project coming up soon, family portraits, and my experience shooting African-Americans is limited. I'm thinking white or anything extremely bright should be avoided, too much contrast. I'm also thinking anything too dark should be avoided, so the subjects don't get lost in the background, even with rim/hairlights. Therefore, I'm leaning toward something middle gray or middle blue, not that much different that I'd use for caucasians. However, I am thinking I might make the background a little lighter thank I'd otherwise use.

Any thoughts?

TIA,
Rodney
--
Rodney N. Yerby
http://www.pbase.com/RNYerby
 
The heart of the problem is lack of shadows.

When you light a nose from the side and it casts a shadow, you can see that shadow against white skin, but you can't see it against dark skin.

Withthis is mond, you start working with thelighting so that the face can contrast with something; perhaps the background.

By using lots of light, you light up the skin to the extent that there is a chance for more shadows to be seen, too.

I tend to light brightly.

BAK
 
You might want to check out Denny Mfg.'s OM2255 • Autumn Blues - I use it and like it either that or coffee colored bkgd. as seen in the images a couple posts before yours.
--
jrbehm
http://www.jeffbehm.com
Rodney N. Yerby said:
On a related note, any specific thoughts about the best background
colors to use for shooting African-Americans? I have a large project
coming up soon, family portraits, and my experience shooting
African-Americans is limited. I'm thinking white or anything
extremely bright should be avoided, too much contrast. I'm also
thinking anything too dark should be avoided, so the subjects don't
get lost in the background, even with rim/hairlights. Therefore, I'm
leaning toward something middle gray or middle blue, not that much
different that I'd use for caucasians. However, I am thinking I might
make the background a little lighter thank I'd otherwise use.

Any thoughts?

TIA,
Rodney
--
Rodney N. Yerby
http://www.pbase.com/RNYerby
Click to expand...
 
I remember back in the 80's when it was common to shoot black "celebrities"....whitney houston...et al , and other theatrical "head shots" almost in "white face" ...we used lighter make up, high key lighting, so while the features were essentially african, the skin color was nearly as caucasion as I am (which is very).

I noticed a similar trend in many of the samples posted above...flatly lit skin with higher than normal tonality....and perhaps because I'm more in the artistic portraiture market (I don't sell to the subject)....I find this look somewhat false. Going back to an earlier post, black skin is defined by the highlight, but it's important to let the skin go dark for it to look realistic...ie for that defining highlight to do any good...of course....this is all IMHO.

Best choice for a background...don't think there is such a thing as best...but as you can see in these photos...I really like white...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93765931@N00/sets/72157600737249562/

these were made of a visiting Ugandan Choir, in open shade.
 
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