Exposure for different skin tones

I just did a wedding last weekend for a couple with way different skin tones.

He was dark complected and she was light. When I focused on her he was too

dark, when I focused on him she, and some in wedding party, were too light?

There are shots that turned out pretty good too, and I can fix things in PS,

but is there a way to get a happy medium when shooting couples where one is a

lot darker than the other?

Shoot a medium contrast "portrait type" film designed for this type of subject, and expose for the black suit. Digital has only made life more difficult, and more expensive. Not cheaper or easier.

Proper metering, not spurious film-vs-digital arguments, will be the solution.

We had a similar circumstance with a couple this year. It helped to direct the light source more toward him, feathering the light toward her slightly.

Do not know what camera or flash you use. Latest DSRL cameras have built in "bracketing" picture taking mode. This is a rapid sequence of photos that you can vary the exposure a bit in each shot. Perhaps not practical or too costly for film cameras.

 

May have limitations with flash to 2 or 3 shots only, and not that fast a sequence, (up to 3 per second is possible with higher ISO or wider open lens - depends on the flash/camera also), but in continuous or ambient lighting the exposure bracketing may help. E.g. out of 3 fast shots, you select one that is most appropriate.

If you're outdoors and not using flash, incident meter the couple or the location where they will be standing. Everything will be perfect.

 

If you're using flash as a fill light you can try setting it 1 2/3 stops lower and reduce your exposure by 3/2. This may still fail slightly because the flash is TTL. I've you're shooting at a leisurly pace the ultimate solution is the set the flash using guide numbers. Once you've focused look at your lens to get the distance. I've done it and you get perfect exposures every time, but it will never to practical in any fast moving situation.

Steve wasn't making a "spurious" argument, just stating the truth. Portrait film has several stops more latitude than digital. Even amateur Kodacolor Gold does a better job of holding highlight and shadow detail. Back in ancient times before TTL, or even any kind of automatic flash, you quickly learned to use the automation between your brain and your finger tips, learned the concept of guide numbers, and adjusted the aperture as needed without really thinking about it. Getting good consistant exposure "on the fly" wasn't a problem. Going full manual with both camera and flash is the easiest way to go in these situations.

I shoot digital. Canon 5D & 20D. Canon 550EX flash with difusers. Canon 24-70mm L f/2.8 & Canon 70-200mm L F/2.8 IS.

 

So far I am getting a better understanding of what to do the next time.

<< just stating the truth. Portrait film has several stops more latitude than digital>>

 

Al,

 

If you can point to any legitimate, reproducible, test proving this, I'm all eyes.

uh, this really isn't a film vs digital issue.

 

When a very dark person (dressed in black no less) stands next to a very white person (in a white dress no less) it presents the same challenges in metering, lighting and exposing regardless of the capture format.

 

that color neg handles highlight clipping in a more pleasing way than digital (or slide film) is nice, but not really the issue. He's not 11 stops darker than her. if correctly exposing him completely blows her out, you have a lighting issue. if you're camera meter is struggling with the scene contrast you have a metering issue.

I exposed for the brightest in the scene (her dress), dropped it down a notch, then fill flashed.<div></div>

Lucas is absolutely right. When I shot film, I still had problems when photographing a light skinned bride in white and a dark skinned groom in black. As he said, film will handle what would be blown highlights in a digital file, but that doesn't negate the problem. When actually shooting, if you can put more light on the darker person via flash, flash fill or natural light, do so. That helps a lot. You can do things like put the key light on the darker person, or take the on camera flash off the camera and move it to the side of the darker person, or position the subjects so the darker person gets more of the light, whether natural or artificial. Of course, in fast moving situations where you cannot interfere, this kind of control is impossible.

 

When shooting digital, you have no choice but to contain the highlights (not blow them) and possibly lift the shadows/darker parts in post processing, where shooting RAW helps a great deal since you can push the histogram to the right more without fear of actually losing highlight detail to the same degree as when shooting jpeg. The metering itself does not change--if you are metering correctly, everything falls into place.

Rob, if you've figure out how to solve the problem, rather than just challenging me to come up with a test, there're a lot of people who want in on your secret.

 

There's another discussion on the problem here:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00IRQ3&tag=200610190310

I guess you can't answer Rob's question. As usual, no evidence or experience.

 

And citing thread on the Leica Forum as proof of something is like...well, take your pick of the analogies.

Since light falls off with the square of the distance, follow Nadine's suggestion to have the darker skinned person closer to the main light source.

 

You are shooting digital, so whatever else you do, don't burn out the lighter skinned person's face. After the fact, it is easier to bring up the darker skinned person's face than to recover a blown out, light skinned face.

 

As has already been pointed out, the approach would be different with film.

 

Jim

Incident metering and fill from there. FOr checking, if the exposure is correct for the dress, i.e. a touch before blowing out, then all the other parts of the image should fall into place anyway. Keep in mind that there is only one exposure for a given scene where the white will be white and the dark will be dark, one person doesn't need to be shot at a certain EV and another standing in the same light, another EV. Get the exposure for the scene right and everything will be fine.

 

Just another reason why I don't trust anything but manual metering.

 

As for the film argument, the argument itself is missing the point. Yes the latitude is there but that is escaping the fact that the exposure isn't right in the first place. I doubt such an experienced photographer as Al would advocate trusting on principle to in camera metering and letting the latitude bail you out...

Some good advice here. Thanks to all. It is kind of hard not to have light hit the lighter skined person when they are a bride & groom standing in the same plane, even with the main light source on the darker skin persons side. I was able to shoot in a "happy medium" though where nothing was blown out either way, so I know I can lighten the darker skin person to bring out details. I was using a flash in a dim sanctuary and was wondering if those of you with experience had some advice/input for the next time so that I could be better prepared, and I did get some good responses, so thanks again. I noticed that when I had natural light (outside shots) I didn't have a problem.

Soft light sources will help tame the contrast. Exposure with digital or film should be accurate regardless of subject if you measure incident light rather than reflected light. A black cat in a coal pile and a white horse in the snow, both on a sunny day, get the same exposure.

Makes sense! I have been measuring reflected light rather than ambient/incident. I didn't think of that. Thank you! I will try that next time.