ultra dark skin wearing white robe

This is the first time I have had a chance to shoot someone with such dark skin wearing all white. I actually took this shot while filming a Toyota commercial.

The shot we were doing here was slow motion film at 150FPS-500ASA-f11.

My settings were ISO100-1/200sec-f8

There was also some atmospheric smoke in the back ground for effect.

Thanks for your input.

The exposure on his gi looks very good - just some blown out bits on the collar over his left chest, left shoulder and the crease going across from his armpit. His right side of the face is lost in shadows, which contrasts too harshly with the background (some contrast is good, but perhaps in this case, a tad too dramatic). I wonder if in Photoshop, the figure could be isolated into skin and gi then given separate exposures. Also, a very slightly lower contrast setting for the entire figure may help achieve harmony with background atmospherics - the focus in the figure is plenty sharp that lowering the contrast won't hurt so much.

I'm not too comfortable with how his arms and the top of his head are cropped.

One last thing, I'm curious to know what message Toyota is aiming to send from this (atonement?)

Thanks for the input. I was using my 70-200 and I was backed up against a pillar just next to the camera dolly so I had no room to go back. As for the message for the commercial, I dont know... it was a pice for the new Avalon and he was driving around with his new son in law to be... We'll see how it looks when it airs.

Personally, I think you nailed the shot. My only complaint is that the light seems harsh on his forehead.

Agreed with Mu Eugene about highlights and wishing for top of his head and hands not to be cropped... but looks very good to me otherwise. I think the dark skin + white robe makes for interesting/dramatic contrast, pose and background add to it really well.

I think you did an excellent job. Highlights are in tact. Definitely workable in PS if you want...I messed with it a bit to add some dynamic lighting...sort of a toned down HDR type look. Now this is a matter of personal preference only, as I also liked your original's mood, which might be lost a bit here.

Clay Kerri wrote in post #9656167
Personally, I think you nailed the shot. My only complaint is that the light seems harsh on his forehead.

Thank you... Lighting wise, we threw tons of light at him due to the high speed cameras we were using. He had 2 18KW fresnel, and 1 12KW fresnel lights that were lighting him from about 8 feet away. Those were softened through a 12ftx12ft full grid cloth. What made it look more harsh was the water spritzing on his forehead. That made it pop a little too much.

deathcake wrote in post #9656216
Agreed with Mu Eugene about highlights and wishing for top of his head and hands not to be cropped... but looks very good to me otherwise. I think the dark skin + white robe makes for interesting/dramatic contrast, pose and background add to it really well.

Thanks for the comments. I wish I had a wider lens with me to make the shot what it really could have been.

mattaura wrote in post #9656427
I think you did an excellent job. Highlights are in tact. Definitely workable in PS if you want...I messed with it a bit to add some dynamic lighting...sort of a toned down HDR type look. Now this is a matter of personal preference only, as I also liked your original's mood, which might be lost a bit here.

Thanks a lot.. I like what you did with the background that helped bring a bit of sepparation. Very interesting look you gave it!