Photographing deep skin tones?

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Hephaestus

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Hi all,


I need to draw upon the pool of wisdom, here at RFF. I have been photographing people with deep brown skin tones, using black and white film, with terrible results even when I bracket my exposures. Most of these shots occur during the evening in a restaraunt with sparse but harsh lighting, which makes things even tougher. Any suggestions?


Thanks!
Ryan
 
I know what you mean about this problem, I've had the same thing with friends. What is really hard is when you have light and dark people together. I don't use Ilford or Kodak's C-41 black and white film now, but when I did I noticed that these films really do a great job on skin. They scan nicely too. You might try to develop your conventional black and white film using half the agitation to get a flatter or less contrasty negative. Then try to correct in an editing program. I've never solved this problem for myself so this is just a guess. I am sure that there is someone here with way more experience than I.
 
I know this could sound a bit silly, but I've shot recently some AGFA SCALA portraits, and the tonalities of the skin are beyond belief, if you have no chance to get and process this film, I would second the previous poster's advice and direct you to XP2, or Portra 400 NC if you don't mind colour, remember to shoot them at ISO 200.
 
It depends on what you meter and which type of developing you do.
XP2 will be very forgiving, as mentioned above.
 
more light. especially a strong diffuse light that will pick up highlights and reflect off the natural skin oils. ring lights/flash is supposedly good for photographing dark skin.
 
Thanks- I'll try some XP2 (and Porta 400 NC + less agitation). Last night I was shooting Neopan 1600 at 800 because I felt like I needed the speed but that probably wasn't a good choice in film. To be continuted... 🙂

Finder, I don't have a scanner yet. Soon, I hope!


Ryan
 
Ray, flash on even the most slightly reflective dark skin makes terrible hot spots.

I've spent years photographing other Indians, who can be quite dark, and have also photographed people from African countries. Incident light readings are the best, with film or developing that gives low contrast. Some people use orange or red filters, but that can be tricky.
 
I share Ray's view that a strong diffuse light is ultimately the key, but also Payasam's doubts on the virtues of flash. This photograph was taken with the former and without the latter - http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=34804&ppuser=2846&sl=j I think it's important to remember that no-one in this world is black or white and that (IMHO) black and white photography succeeds best when it deals with the relationship between light and texture - "tone". I think some of the problems people encounter come from trying to reproduce the effect of colour, which is a different thing.

Incidentally, before the subject became inexplicably taboo, many books from the 30s and 40s (Vining, Newcombe etc.) recommended the use of green or green/yellow filters on dark subjects, just as they recommended red or sometimes blue for lighter skin.

Cheers, Ian
 
payasam said:
Ray, flash on even the most slightly reflective dark skin makes terrible hot spots.

I've spent years photographing other Indians, who can be quite dark, and have also photographed people from African countries. Incident light readings are the best, with film or developing that gives low contrast. Some people use orange or red filters, but that can be tricky.
Click to expand...

Payanam, note that I wrote the following: strong diffuse light and ring lights/flash.

Flash is perfectly fine for lighting dark skin. You just have to control it. If you're getting "terrible hot spots" then you're doing something wrong. It's very easy to bounce and diffuse flash. Aiming a bare flash at anyone with any skin tone will produce unflattering (terrible) results. Most fashion and portrait photography uses flashes into umbrella reflectors (diffuse light) and ring light.

Here's a quote from a Lee Varis book on portrature regarding ring light:
"Ring light is very good for lighting dark skin. It will create a good reflection off moisture in the skin,.This produces highlights on dark skin"

🙂
 
Hephaestus said:
Thanks- I'll try some XP2 (and Porta 400 NC + less agitation). Last night I was shooting Neopan 1600 at 800 because I felt like I needed the speed but that probably wasn't a good choice in film. To be continuted... 🙂

Finder, I don't have a scanner yet. Soon, I hope!


Ryan
Click to expand...


I would go with a 400 speed film and NOT push. Push processing sacrefices shadow detail for increased contrast to gain speed.
 
it's not the film as much as the light. Having said that, my recommendation would be TriX or HP5+. The c41 b&w films are too soft and produce cadaver-grey skin tones, IMO. use a conventional b&w film, plenty of diffuse light. bias your meter reading towads the darks so you get nice dense negs. this is not the best for scanning but will give you great skin tones with wet printing.
 
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