Trying to photograph dark-skinned people

[Bindu]

Hi, I live in India where we have every possible shade of skin colour, from very fair to very dark. I travel a lot with work and try to click a few snaps when I get a chance but find that when there is a dark skinned person I often get an underexposed image, while the rest of the background of other things are just right. I read a lot about this on the internet and find suggestions about using extra flash lights and a lot of other technical stuff but that all applies to situations that you can control, like in a studio. What about when you are a tourist and simply cannot change anything, and you have to be quick too!

Here is a sample of a man who I photographed.



Nikon D40
Exposure: 1/200
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: 200

As you can see he is dark and his face details are hidden. If you go here

woman on steps | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
dancing girl | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

you can see two more examples. The "dancing girl" turned out fine because she was facing the sun. But the father who is "the musician" is in some shade. The "woman on the steps" is another example where I thought the rest of the picture turned out fine but her face did not.

Could you give some tips on how to handle this? Also wanted to add that sometimes I think that if I come around to another angle to get someone's face they will see me and become conscious and the composition will get spoilt. What do you think?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/
(I hope these links work)

Please excuse me if these links turn out wrongly pasted. Am new to this!!


Thanks!
Bindu

[wulf]

I've moved this thread to the technique section, since you are asking how to get round a photographic challenge rather than how people think you did (or could improve) with a particular picture.

I think it all comes down to light levels. Working in a real world situation you either need your darker skinned subjects to be standing in good light or at least change your position so you photograph them against a darker background. In the image above, you can't let in much more light without drastically over-exposing the background.

That means that sometimes you can't get the shot. However, perhaps the need to search around will open up fresh perspectives. Also, you may need to change your view of the subject of the picture - for example, with the woman in the sari, it's not a bad shot if you look at it as being more about the brightness of the sari than as a portrait of the woman wearing it.

Wulf

[Bindu]

Thank you Wulf and sorry for posting it in the wrong place.

In the photo of the man, if I went in closer to him, thereby cutting out some of the background on the left (as we look at the photo), would it have made a difference? I mean if I exposed more for his face, and opened up the aperture more to blur out the background further, would that have worked or would it have made everything dull?

I also appreciate your comment that sometimes you simply can't get a shot. Beginners like me look at what pros shoot and think that everything always can be made to work, that there is some technique that I don't know on how to make it work! And yes, looking at a photo differently helps too!

Thanks again!

[wulf]

Yes, getting closer would have made a diference. If your main subject fills most of the screen, you (or the camera if on modes other than manual) can often find a combination that gives a good exposure. Even if the subject is a smaller element, you can expose for it (use spot exposure mode if relying on the camera) but then you have the problem that the relative under or over exposure of the background can become a distraction.

For this shot, fill-in flash might have been a better trick though. You can use your flash even on a sunny day to render nearby objects in shade in a brightness that matches the brighter background.

Wulf

[Bindu]

Thanks for your help Wulf! I will keep these in mind next time!

Bindu

[Ambrosia76]

I have a similiar problem,even in studio settings. My son in law is very dark skinned,while my daughter is milky white and my granddaughter is in between getting photos of the 3 of them together is a nightmare. I can't seem to find the right setting.

[murman99]

In your first example you would have underexposed the face of a light skinned person too. That comes from exposing for the background. Due to the limitations of the dynamic range in camera sensors there are 2 ways to correct for this (that I can think of). Expose for the face & blow out the background or use lights to brighten the shadows.

[Bindu]

Ambrosia, it does sound like a challenge, but also sounds like a beautiful family! So what do you...do you need to use post processing to fix the photos?

[Bindu]

Thanks for your tip!

[Ambrosia76]

Originally Posted by Bindu

Ambrosia, it does sound like a challenge, but also sounds like a beautiful family! So what do you...do you need to use post processing to fix the photos?

Unfortunatly I have not quite figured it out yet,since wwe are doing family portraits today I will have more pics to practice on, I am seriously thinking of taking seperate pics of them at different exposures and merging them together.