Shooting Dark Skin Tones

[Chuck Fryberger]

Howdy,

I'm going to Ethiopia soon to film for a charity effort. I guess this post is sort of the opposite of the 'silhouette' post below...

I plan on shooting dark-skinned people against a clean background, but I want the opposite of silhouette... I want to be able to see into their faces without them turning into a silhouette or a dark patch. I would like to shoot for a final product in B+W, and I have a choice over what background to put the subject against, but little choice over lighting conditions (except of course which way to face relating to the sun.

I've heard of B+W photographers using a red filter to help decrease contrast... would the same principals apply to digital cinema?

Thanks!

Chuck Fryberger

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Red filters lighten reds and darken blues on b&w panchromatic stock -- which generally increases contrast outside as caucasian faces get paler but shadows get darker (because of the blue from skylight) and blue skies go darker.

B&W filters don't really help much in color photography for changing contrast - plus given that the RED likes daylight-balance, a red-filtered image would be incredibly noisy.

Using bounce cards to reflect large white surfaces over dark skin with some reflectance is often best way to get more detail in the skin. Plus don't underexpose. If you need to, stage them against a darker background to give you more freedom to expose lighter.