(Shooting / Exposing for dark and lite skin colors)

How does your photography change when shooting a white or black person or does it change at all?

What if you had a white bride and a black groom would that change your shot?

I believe their point is how to shoot different skin tones next to each other without over or underexposing one or the other. And I think it's a good question, especially when someone's wedding portraits are concerned.

If the skin is very light or very dark, it may fool the metering a bit. You may have to use + or - exposure compensation, respectively.

If they are next to each other then I think it's more difficult, but I don't think any more difficult )in terms of metering) than a man wearing black and a bride wearing white. If you use flash, it may make metering easier by providing more light onto the faces.

metalpam wrote in post #5900576
I believe their point is how to shoot different skin tones next to each other without over or underexposing one or the other. And I think it's a good question, especially when someone's wedding portraits are concerned.

Thanks for that...the wording had me .

I've shot a wedding where the couple was a korean (fairly pale) and a black guy. I shot in manual and I had to decide who I would meter off. If I metered of the darker skin the already pale-skinned bride would be blown out. The most you can do is meet in the middle and do some adjustments in post process. So I decided to meter off the bride's skin and slightly decrease the shutter speed to barely over expose the bride's skin while revealing the groom without too much underexposure.

I do agree using a flash would yield better results but it's usually unflattering to both Bride and Groom unless it's well distributed.

Vacation wrote in post #5900285
How does your photography change when shooting a white or black person or does it change at all?

What if you had a white bride and a black groom would that change your shot?

I go negative on the exposure dial for dark people and positive for white people. When in the same frame, depends how big one is relative to the other and/or what they're wearing (if anything). Usually it just means +1/3 or so.

The simple and understandable misunderstanding has been removed as well some un needed additional flame directed towards it.

MetalPam, thanks for translating !

The OP maybe might want to explain the questions more clearly in the future
Thread title changed to prevent further confusion.

Carry on.

I don't see this as an exposure problem, but as a metering problem. The exposure for white/black people is the same. My solution (not universally well received here) is to shoot on M & use the capabilities built into RAW.

See post #3
Tips for Xmas Ball Please

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #5900693
MetalPam, thanks for translating !

No problem!

Wedding photographer's nightmare...

Couple shot, outdoors, bright sunny day, 2 hours past noon, couple facing sun, very dark bride in pure white wedding dress with very pale groom in black tuxedo, must get in one shot.

Don't think the Sunny-16 Rule will help much here.

One concept that reflective light metering has done, and exaggerated even more so with histogram chimping, as the fact that there is a single exposure which fits the ambient light falling onto the scene. That is provided by a meter pointed at an 18% grey card or by an incident light meter. 'Shooting to the right' is merely an adaptive exposure meant to better exploit the dynamic range of the media, and in this regard it is no different than the 'old school' Zone System exposure and adjusting the developing and printing.

The inherent ambient light brightness means that the identical exposure is use for a pale indoor Scandanavian, a tanned French Riviera rich person, or anaboriginal from the outback of Australia.

When metering a white persons skin colour, spot meter to +1 and the rest will fall into place. For, say, indian skin colour, zero your meter out using spot metering. And if its a black persons skin colour, spot meter to -1. When metering, your camera takes a reading of what it is your metering but doesnt take into consideration that maybe the colour needs to be, for eg; dark and so it overexposes. Same with light skin colour. The camera reads it as being too light so therefore when the meter is zeroed out, it becomes underexposed. Stick to the above and it'll work, I guarantee.

It IS a good question, and one that, in my opinion, has never been satisfactorily answered. Simply put, the question is:

When skin tones and/or attire call for entirely different exposures, what is the photographer to do do obtain a well balanced shot?

This is hardly a new problem. I remember a discussion years ago about the problems of a double head shot of Guinan and Data (Whoopi Goldberg and Brent Spiner) on Star Trek:The Next Generation. If their cinematographers, as highly experienced professionals, had problems on a controlled set, what are we lesser mortals to do working with what nature provides?

My "Wedding photographer's nightmare" a few posts back was only slightly tongue in cheek. But I did see that no-one posted a solution.

My solution? Expose for whatever is the most important or the most difficult (in this case, probably the bride's very dark face), bracket the exposure by two stops, use photoshop to further adjust the exposures, and then cut and paste the images. Naturally, shoot in raw.

If only one shot can be taken (no bracketing), then be prepared for a lot more dodging and burning work.

It is possible to obtain a well-balance image that can be presented to the B&G with pride in one's workmanship. But be prepared to have to work for it.

20droger wrote in post #5909433
My "Wedding photographer's nightmare" a few posts back was only slightly tongue in cheek. But I did see that no-one posted a solution.

My solution? Expose for whatever is the most important or the most difficult (in this case, probably the bride's very dark face), bracket the exposure by two stops, use photoshop to further adjust the exposures, and then cut and paste the images. Naturally, shoot in raw.

The bride has spent thousands of dollars on a wedding gown, it is white satin with a beautiful lace bodice and hand applied pearl and sequined accents...I would expose to ensure the DRESS is not blown out!!! She could care less about her facial details, but wants a permanent record of her wedding gown.

Lightroom's fill light function can take care of her face well enough, in the RAW conversion.

You have put your finger on part of the problem. In extreme cases, would it be better to have a dark blob of a face atop a beautifully detailed dress? Or a beautiful, happy face atop a white blur?

Solving these problems is why the GOOD photographers make the big bucks!