How to Photograph Various Skin Tones |  |
- How to Photograph Various Skin Tones
- Composite Image Tutorial Involving a Chrome Surface
- Inside a Professional Paparazzi Photography Bag
| How to Photograph Various Skin Tones Posted: 21 Apr 2013 05:17 PM PDT Getting the right photo exposure can be a bit tricky at times. Expose for the highlights and lose the dark areas, expose for the dark areas and blow out the highlights… it’s a never ending battle. Today’s photo tip answers a question about how to get the best photo exposure for different skin tones. I was recently asked: “When taking pictures of black people, do you have to open up the f-stop more?” It’s a great question! In this case, they were referring to a studio lighting setup, but the issue remains in any photo lighting situation, not necessarily just with skin tones.  “Stephaniex2″ captured by Tracy DePaola. (Click image to see more from Tracy DePaola.) What if you are shooting a black dog and a white one? Or, more commonly, a bride with a white wedding dress next to a groom in a black tux? If we expose for the white area, we will get nice detail and properly show all the lace and beadwork in a wedding dress. Or the fur in a white dog, or all the subtle skin tones in a white person. On the flip side, by exposing for the white areas, we will inadvertently underexpose the black areas. We will lose all the detail, and the black area will become nothing more than a big black blob. We have problems going the other way, too! If we expose for the black area, we show all the nice detail in the black areas of the photo, but the white parts are totally overexposed and blown out. We lose all detail and the white part is ruined.  “Even Dogs Get Tired Of Modeling” captured by Paul Hentschl. (Click image to see more from Paul Hentschl.) Stop reading for a second and think, "What would you do? What is the best course of action?" Most of you probably went with – “Expose for a middle of the road area. It’s not perfect, but at least you won’t totally lose either side.” Good call. In fact, a middle of the road exposure is the concept that all reflectance light meters are based on. BTW – a reflectance meter is what is in your camera. No matter what your light source is, when light hits a subject, it reflects off. The color, and even the types of materials present, have a fairly large impact as to HOW MUCH light is reflected. White areas reflect more than black areas; velvet absorbs more light than satin. After reflecting off the subject, the light goes into your camera. The meter absorbs all this light, and sets the exposure for a setting that is in the middle. The middle setting is calculated to be 18% gray, which is a whole book of its own. Just know that a middle setting is what your camera’s reflectance meter will give you. Not perfect on either end of the spectrum, but workable. The other type of light meter is called an “incident” light meter. This is the type of meter that is outside the camera and is hand held. That is the one you see photographers hold up to a model’s face and fire off the lights. We most often see it used in a studio setting, but it works with any light source. We just tend to be too lazy to get it out for normal day to day stuff and rely on the meter in our camera. An incident meter doesn’t measure the light reflected off a subject. It measures the amount of light hitting a subject. This may seem like basically the same thing, but it is radically different. Reflected light is affected by color and the various reflectance properties in the frame. Incidence metering is measuring the light BEFORE it hits the subject and is not affected by color, etc. Measuring the actual light hitting a subject means we are properly exposing for the light as well as the colors in the photo. It will record colors and so on, exactly as we see them–under those lighting conditions! The whites will record as white, the blacks will record as black, and everything else in between.  “AF Models” captured by Linda DePaola. (Click image to see more from Linda DePaola.) It is a far better way to meter your shots and that’s why you see the best photographers buying and using incident meters even when they have a perfectly good reflectance meter in the camera. To answer the initial question… With a reflectance meter, yes, you have to open up to get the right exposure for black skin tones. (And close down for white.) With an incident meter, it doesn’t matter what colors are present. If you want to truly master your camera–and get the photos you see in your most creative visions–you have to take your camera off automatic mode and start taking control. The first issues you will have are with photo exposure. Learn the various metering methods (in this photo tip) and you are one step closer to winning photo contests! About the Author: For Further Training on Portrait Photography:Professional photographer Edward Verosky has released two eBooks designed to help photographers with advanced portrait photography concepts: These eBooks are now available here: They contain unique information on how to beyond the rules of conventional portraiture with creative ideas and guidelines for developing your own unique style. Go to full article: How to Photograph Various Skin Tones |
| Composite Image Tutorial Involving a Chrome Surface Posted: 21 Apr 2013 01:24 PM PDT Photography often involves envisioning a photograph before you’ve snapped the photo. This is especially true for commercial photography, as clients and photographers will usually discuss their ideas and work from there. At some point you may find that the image you envisioned is impossible to shoot in a single frame. The Slanted Lens met this situation when asked to shoot a specific image for a magazine ad: the reflection of a truck driver in the driver’s side mirror among a downtown background. They resolved to create the image by taking multiple photographs and creating a composite image in post production. Take a look (for those of you reading this by email, the video can be seen here): An added challenge for this assignment was shooting a chrome mirror. Since the surface is reflective, the light source shouldn’t be direct. This called for diffusing the light from a Dynalight Strobe Head by reflecting it off of a Photoflex P22 LitePanel reflector. They placed a tree branch on the reflector panel to make the lighting look more authentic, as it it were shining through trees.  Individual parts of the composite image were shot in multiple ways for more image-processing options. For instance, the background scene was shot at higher and lower exposures so that HDR would be an option. The next step involved shooting an image of the driver’s reflection in the mirror. They placed another mirror in front of the chrome mirror in order to place that image within the frame of the chrome mirror in post production. The lighting on the driver looks as if it is direct sunlight; this effect was made possible with the Photoflex Softbox wrapped around the light. The final two elements of the image were then shot: the background without the mirror and the front of the truck. Because the truck they had been working with had no nose, they shot a different truck at another location to be able to add this aspect of the image later. The images were then combined into a seamless composite. Go to full article: Composite Image Tutorial Involving a Chrome Surface |
| Inside a Professional Paparazzi Photography Bag Posted: 21 Apr 2013 11:14 AM PDT Getting a sneak peak inside a professional paparazzi’s camera bag isn’t something we are treated to on a regular basis which makes the video below all the more interesting. For this clip, the cameras are turned from the celebrities and onto the cameramen that make a living photographing stars and starlets. Regardless of your opinion on the integrity of the job, it’s still quite interesting to see what kind of tools the photographers use. Besides the obvious DSLR, there may be an item or two in there that you might not have considered. Have a look (for those of you reading this by email, the video can be seen here): So, what is inside of this paparazzi’s camera bag? At the time of making this video clip, which was back in 2008, this is the standard equipment he brought to work with him on any given day:
Go to full article: Inside a Professional Paparazzi Photography Bag |
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