Issues When Lighting Ebony Skin

Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
edited May 14, 2011 in People
As the learn by doing process continues, I have discovered that lighting people with ebony skin tones presents different issues than lighting caucasian skin tones. I photographed this gentleman yesterday with the metering formula that I have often used in the past. I did bring the main light up a bit higher than normal as there were some skin issues on the cheeks that would be best left in the shadows. The hot spots were hotter and the cold spots were colder than I expected or have experienced in the past. I did a bit of post processing on both of these to tone down the hot spots, but some areas still remain quite shiny.

Is there a particular formula or a rule of thumb that works when photographing dark skin tones?

Thanks for any help with this!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399337@N06/5716499964/&quot; title="webfDSC_8756 by Bryce Wilson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3266/5716499964_c3ffcf9321_b.jpg&quot; width="800" height="640" alt="webfDSC_8756"></a>


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399337@N06/5715937099/&quot; title="webfDSC_8753 by Bryce Wilson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/5715937099_e1dab05671_b.jpg&quot; width="800" height="640" alt="webfDSC_8753"></a>

Comments

  • Ed911Ed911 Registered Users Posts: 1,306 Major grins
    edited May 13, 2011
    It looks to me like you are complaining about oily skin. Someone here has a remedy for that...in fact...they carry that item in their camera bag...can't remember the name of it. But, as I remember, it was a wipe or powder to dry up the oils so you don't get the scintillating highlights. On the other hand, these look good...the highlights that you left are nice. And, I'm sure you are looking for a way not to have to post process more than you have to. He looks a bit orangy to me...a little to warm. Or is that his skin color?

    Any one remember...
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  • zoomerzoomer Registered Users Posts: 3,688 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    I have shot several couples where the man was black and the lady was white. Can get pretty interesting. I found the midtones are your friend with the darker skin and the black point and white point are more critical. To much black and you lose skin detail, to much white and the skin gets shiny. For me I would actually do the entire photo with settings for the white skin, then select the black skin after and adjust it. Yes it took quite a while to do.

    Short answer feather the black and white points and adjust the exposure with the mid tones....hope this is some help...
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  • Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    zoomer wrote: »
    I have shot several couples where the man was black and the lady was white. Can get pretty interesting. I found the midtones are your friend with the darker skin and the black point and white point are more critical. To much black and you lose skin detail, to much white and the skin gets shiny. For me I would actually do the entire photo with settings for the white skin, then select the black skin after and adjust it. Yes it took quite a while to do.

    Short answer feather the black and white points and adjust the exposure with the mid tones....hope this is some help...

    It does indeed help in the post processing area Zoomer, thank-you, but as Ed911 mentioned, I want to eliminate post processing and was hoping there was something I could do with lighting or maybe even camera settings.

    Ed911:

    You may have hit the nail on the head with oily skin causing the hot spots. I will research at camera remedies for this and see what I find.

    I have a feeling the bit of orange is due in part to the shirt he chose to wear and reflection from it.
  • briandelionbriandelion Registered Users Posts: 512 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    I ran across the same thing recently. The wipe is a good idea to prevent the problem in the first place but doesen't help after the fact. Besides the useful tips from zoomer here's a post processing trick that worked well for me (at least in Photoshop)
    • Duplicate image layer
    • Choose clone stamp tool and change the mode on the Options Bar from normal to "darken" (opacity around 40%)
    • Now sample a nearby area of skin (option click) that isn't shiny and use that to paint over the problem area.
    • Finally, lower the opacity of the layer itself for subtlety.
    This takes less than a minute and works like a charm.

    Another thing that may help skin tones in general- try a fairly neutral colored background that leans toward a complementary color to the skin tone.
    Very nice images by the way.
    "Photography is not about the thing photographed.
    It is about how that thing looks photographed." Garry Winogrand

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  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    Couple of things. On the oily skin prior to photographing Mary Kay makes a set of wipes that are great for reducing oily glare. Simply wipe the forehead, nose, cheekbones and chin and you are done.

    I think your photo #1 is fine with the specular highlights. They should be there to an extent. However he has an orange cast to him. I photograph alot of black students and they always say wow, I don't look orange when I come to you. I shoot raw and convert in Capture One. I'm sure most raw converts, Bibble, Light Room, Adobe etc all have the capabilities to either alter temperature or a color wheel where you can select the skin tone with a dropper and lessen the saturation of that particular color to get a proper skin tone.

    I agree with Zoomer also on black and white pts adjustment and then mid point.
    Charles
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  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    This is not super, I did a simple temperature adjustment in ACDSee. I hope it's ok to adjust it if not let me know and I'll delete it.
    i-LZcvgHg-L.jpg
    Charles
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  • IcebearIcebear Registered Users Posts: 4,015 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    Are you shooting a grey card as a routine part of your process?
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  • Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    Hackbone wrote: »
    This is not super, I did a simple temperature adjustment in ACDSee. I hope it's ok to adjust it if not let me know and I'll delete it.
    i-LZcvgHg-L.jpg

    No, that is fine, thank you for this and all the other help and advice you have provided in the past.

    That adjust did do something nice for the skin tones, but it really brought the bright spots out.

    Now to find a Mary Kay rep...anyone see a pink caddy around?:D

    I really wan't to avoid post processing time, I wonder if tinkering with the white balance on camera would help with the "orange" problem?
  • Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    Icebear wrote: »
    Are you shooting a grey card as a routine part of your process?

    No, you got me there. I've used white cards for setting temp in venues with weird lighting but never thought I would need to do so in controlled light situations. Maybe I should!

    You may be on to something there.

    Using Zoom's and Hack's tips, being as I didn't shoot RAW either, I converted to CMYK and played with curves a bit. Here is what I came up with.
  • Ray DauphinaisRay Dauphinais Registered Users Posts: 92 Big grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    Hi,

    I see and dark gold toned man in an orange shirt against an orange background. A tough combo for sure. As has been mentioned his shiny (read oily) skin did not help.

    I also shoot Nikon. You said you do not shoot NEF, what color control profile do you (did you) have loaded? They can make a huge difference.

    If your lighting, white balance, exposure and PCP are correct there is no reason you cannot get an acceptable image SOOC.

    3087189240_c1b8ce7b90.jpg

    3088953989_32c80320fa.jpg

    2789928711_9b6e7a0ec1.jpg

    2790779118_f1a783410a.jpg
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  • Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    RKD Photography wrote: »
    Hi,

    I see and dark gold toned man in an orange shirt against an orange background. A tough combo for sure. As has been mentioned his shiny (read oily) skin did not help.

    I also shoot Nikon. You said you do not shoot NEF, what color control profile do you (did you) have loaded? They can make a huge difference.

    If your lighting, white balance, exposure and PCP are correct there is no reason you cannot get an acceptable image SOOC.

    3087189240_c1b8ce7b90.jpg

    3088953989_32c80320fa.jpg

    2789928711_9b6e7a0ec1.jpg

    2790779118_f1a783410a.jpg

    I do shoot NEF for most things, but didn't in this case. This shot was supposed to be simple and easy as it was for an image to place on his blog. Little did I know that it wouldn't stay simple! :(

    I used my 100 for this (which has a lot less control over most things than the 700) with the white balance set to flash, everything else was set to 0 or even or auto. Manual exposure and metered dead nuts on.

    Now that I think about it, I do get comments that my images look a bit warm with that camera when posted on line. Hmmm
  • Ray DauphinaisRay Dauphinais Registered Users Posts: 92 Big grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    Bryce Wilson wrote: »
    I do shoot NEF for most things, but didn't in this case. This shot was supposed to be simple and easy as it was for an image to place on his blog. Little did I know that it wouldn't stay simple! :(

    I used my 100 for this (which has a lot less control over most things than the 700) with the white balance set to flash, everything else was set to 0 or even or auto. Manual exposure and metered dead nuts on.

    Now that I think about it, I do get comments that my images look a bit warm with that camera when posted on line. Hmmm

    I wasn't saying any of those things were wrong, just that they affect the results. Does the D100 use the PCPs?
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  • Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    Hackbone wrote: »
    This is not super, I did a simple temperature adjustment in ACDSee. I hope it's ok to adjust it if not let me know and I'll delete it.
    i-LZcvgHg-L.jpg
    Wow, now that I see your rendition on my good monitor at home, rather than my laptop, what a difference. I think the skin tone is spot on and the highlights are ok too!

    Me thinks I won't be doing any portraiture in straight jpg again! Still going to play with white balance though and see how close I can get.

    Only thing that bothers me with this is, now, his rather unsightly cheek texture is quite noticeable.
  • Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    RKD Photography wrote: »
    I wasn't saying any of those things were wrong, just that they affect the results. Does the D100 use the PCPs?
    Not to the best of my knowledge, Then again my best is sometimes lacking!

    Image number one is very, very rich looking. If you tell me that is SOOC, I'm going to wet myself. :)
  • 1scrappychic1scrappychic Registered Users Posts: 53 Big grins
    edited May 14, 2011
    I think Hackbone's edit is too cool. Look at the whites of the eyes and around the mouth...they are blue...but I think op's original edit is much to orange as well. You could also run a slight surface blur layer to smooth out some of the texture in the skin on his cheek :)
    He's a very handsome fella
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