Shooting dark skin models

moondragon · 25th of September 2005 (Sun)

hey all

I shot a black model yesterday at the beach and my first exposures came out WAY dark on her .... I figured out the bright sky was fuhging the auto-exposure so went full manual and opened the iris up...

this helped but it still didn't look right to me...

any advise on this one?

moon

grego · 26th of September 2005 (Mon)

Meter her. If its with your camera, get real close to her and metter the important spot that you want to expose for, being her face, generally. With manual, that will work well for you. Just make sure to get the frame filled with most of what you want metered correctly.

Jon, The Elder · 26th of September 2005 (Mon)

Thats a tough one - black subjects often have oily skin surfaces and thus reflect too much - also under surfaces (nose/chin, etc) are darker and absorb light. I generally try to use a bounce reflector from the bottom of the shot.
If you can isolate from direct light, this will get you into a more controllable situation. Like I said, its tough !

25th of September 2005 (Sun)	#1
moondragon Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 199 IMAGE EDITING OK	Shooting dark skin models hey all I shot a black model yesterday at the beach and my first exposures came out WAY dark on her .... I figured out the bright sky was fuhging the auto-exposure so went full manual and opened the iris up... this helped but it still didn't look right to me... any advise on this one? moon

26th of September 2005 (Mon)	#2
grego Cream of the Crop Join Date: May 2005 Location: UCLA Posts: 8,771 IMAGE EDITING OK	Re: Shooting dark skin models Meter her. If its with your camera, get real close to her and metter the important spot that you want to expose for, being her face, generally. With manual, that will work well for you. Just make sure to get the frame filled with most of what you want metered correctly. __________________ Go UCLA!! \|Gear\|SportsShooter\|Wedding Photography\|

26th of September 2005 (Mon)	#3
Jon, The Elder teaching fish to ride a bicycle Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Warren, Michigan Posts: 2,453	Re: Shooting dark skin models Thats a tough one - black subjects often have oily skin surfaces and thus reflect too much - also under surfaces (nose/chin, etc) are darker and absorb light. I generally try to use a bounce reflector from the bottom of the shot. If you can isolate from direct light, this will get you into a more controllable situation. Like I said, its tough ! __________________ A 40D, a 30D, a couple of 20D's, some nice glass and a great Shooting Partner. Our Galleries.www.pbase.com/jpferguson

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