Photograhing an inter-racial couple outside

[Tzetsin]

I'm not sure its worth noting here, but it might be helpful to keep in mind why it is that the light isnt working for both of you.

when you look at a dark skinned or light skinned person, you dont "see" them the same way. When looking at light skinned, your eyes pay attention to the shadows to define contours and lines on your body and face, its exactly the OPPOSITE for dark skinned. The eye will look at the highlights to define the contours and lines. This is why Gary had to have powder to dull the shine. Its not that he is shinier than anyone else, its that people are hyper sensitive to highlights on dark tones. Similarly with your fair skin. Fair skin absorbs shadow which will cause you to "look" flat, as the viewer is looking for shadow to define contour.

I think most of the people are on the right track here though, its a lot easier to create highlight than it is to create shadow, so expose for your skin and use as much "soft" light to bring up the highlights on Gary without blowing them out.

[teepee12]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

With a single off-camera flash and an umbrella, I'd at least try moving the umbrella'd flash in very close to your husband for the shot. If the distance from the flash to your husband is half the distance from the flash to you, inverse-square-law falloff will give a two stop difference in the light from the flash. Then drag your shutter to get fill.

With a second light, I'd either stack it with the first light to get more even illumination top to bottom or use it to provide some even fill light from near the lens axis.

With a limited number and power of lights, you'll probably need to do this indoors or in open shade of some sort.

HTH

ps. For the price that I paid the last time my wife and I went out for sushi, you could probably pick up another flash.

Ah, but was the sushi good? Can you eat a flash? Would it be yummy?

Seriously, though, without getting overly detailed ... this place is not well set up for shooting anything but handheld battery powered. We live in an old farmhouse in the middle of an oak woods. We have only two electrical outlets outside, both located in very unappealing parts of the property and the land is, well, rough. AND we have three dogs, live with my son, granddaughter AND daughter in law, so although I really HAVE tried to set up some kind of shooting spot inside, it's so crowded and there are so many people and dogs and teenagers and stuff ... antiques and tables and chewed up furniture (remember the dawgz?) and the collie who is shedding and the scottie who thinks it's hilarious to knock the lights over and the dachshund who just gets into every shot somehow or other. When I did product shots, I built a small lighting box for the dining room table and it would become my "clean white room" for however many hours I needed it. I used to shoot as many items as possible at a time, because the process of locking out the dawgz and kids and whatever but still get the table cleared off by dinner time ...

I closed the shop. Eventually, it got to me. I think I put in more hours to run that online antique store than I ever did working in anyone's office. And made less money.

We have some very nice areas nearby, but no electricity to work with. If the light is good and I am able to find light shade, that may work out, especially if I can get the grandkid to hold the umbrella and NOT bring the dog.

Sometimes I feel like a cliche of "life in the country." Right down to the rusting old cars.

[teepee12]

Originally Posted by Tzetsin

I'm not sure its worth noting here, but it might be helpful to keep in mind why it is that the light isnt working for both of you.

when you look at a dark skinned or light skinned person, you dont "see" them the same way. When looking at light skinned, your eyes pay attention to the shadows to define contours and lines on your body and face, its exactly the OPPOSITE for dark skinned. The eye will look at the highlights to define the contours and lines. This is why Gary had to have powder to dull the shine. Its not that he is shinier than anyone else, its that people are hyper sensitive to highlights on dark tones. Similarly with your fair skin. Fair skin absorbs shadow which will cause you to "look" flat, as the viewer is looking for shadow to define contour.

I think most of the people are on the right track here though, its a lot easier to create highlight than it is to create shadow, so expose for your skin and use as much "soft" light to bring up the highlights on Gary without blowing them out.

Most interesting observations. Mind you, he and I have been married for 21 years and known each other for 46 years (yikes). I don't see his colour at all ... until it comes to taking pictures. It's easy to shoot him by himself. He loves being in front of a camera and he's a natural and will pretty much do whatever you ask of him. If I could should both of us, I'm sure i could work it out, but because I can't both shoot and be shot, it gets kind of hinky.

You are right about the shadows vs. highlights thing. I just never looked at it that way, but it makes perfect sense.

But, back to reality. My husband has an odd sense of humour and likes to wear bright white shirts when he is at his darkest at the end of the summer. He just does it to aggravate me or whoever is shooting. He used to wear white suits to the studio and the director would go nuts. His other dark buddies seem exceptionally fond of baseball caps which they will NOT remove probably because they are self-conscious about losing their hair ... so you have dark faces in perpetual shadow.

It's a conspiracy.

[Doug Sundseth]

Originally Posted by teepee12

Ah, but was the sushi good? Can you eat a flash? Would it be yummy?.

It was. And I'm pretty sure the flash would be shockingly good, too.

I was actually thinking that you could use battery powered flash, either speedlights or using a battery pack with studio lights.

Because the total power output is lower with speedlights than studio strobes, you'd need to keep your ambient contribution down a bit (relative to the flash contribution), hence the open shade or indoor location. But given that, lack of outlets wouldn't necessarily be significant.

If you haven't already been there, I'd strongly recommend David Hobby's Strobist for off-camera flash. Especially in the early days of the website, he worked almost exclusively with speedlights and got remarkably good results. He has expanded his brief to more expensive lights in the last couple of years, but the principles still apply.