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Photography Question 

Loretta Kent 		 

lighting on faces


 
 
I am generally an observer and truly enjoy the website and the wonderful photography...breathtaking.

My problem: My wonderful daughter in law is Hispanic and married into a family of really white whitefaces. Even my grandchildren are whitefaces.
So, when taking pics of her with other family members either the light is right for her and wrong for the others or vice versa....
I use a Fuji finepix F700 and I don't like to use the flash as it whitens to much.
Can you help this amateur?


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April 13, 2006

 

robert G. Fately 		  Loretta, flash lighting, especially on the simpler point&shoot type cameras, is usually very harsh. This is what leads to the washed out faces and excessive contrast that you describe.

I believe if you Google "flash diffuser for point & shoot camera" or variations thereof, you will find some companies that offer accessories that basically stick to the front of the camera body and position a frosted screen in front of the flash. If you can find one to fit your particular camera (you might also try a well-stocked camera store, if you have one around) then this might help a lot.


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April 13, 2006

 

Loretta Kent 		 
 
 
Thanks so much Bob. I will look for a flash diffuser. My camera is more than just a point and shoot. There are many adjustments available. Trying just to decrease flash however did not work satisfactorily. Will changing f stops etc make a difference that will help with the problem?
Appreciate the feedback.


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April 13, 2006

 

Bob Chance 		  Loretta:

Adjusting the f-stop will change the overall exposure. Making everything in the scene either darker or lighter by the same amount.
Years ago, as a lab tech, I did a lot of printing work for a man who worked at an emassy in D.C. for India. Again, a people of rather dark complexion. I soon learned that they preferred to look lighter in the pictures then they really are. That's okay unless you have much fairer toned people in the same picture. Naturally, by the time I made the darker complexoins as light as they seemed to think they should be, all the lighter people were almost too light to see any detail.
The diffuser may help by softening the shadows so the faces won't seem as dark in some areas. Other then that, about the only way you are going to acheive the results you are looking for is by manipulation in softwared editing. Unfortunately, they have not as yet come up with a way to do that in the camera. They probably will though!

Bob


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April 13, 2006

 

Justin G. 		  I believe it's Monte Zucker who says it's not neccessarily the amount or intensity of the light, but the angle at which the light hits the face. For darker skins he suggests that kickers on one or both sides of the face are extremely beneficial to really pull them off the background. I'm assuming you don't have a full entrage (sp?) of studio lights so a very practical way to add in some "kicker" light would be to backlight them. Inside, you could stand them in front of a window with the light highlighting the rim of their hairs; this will really pull them out. Or outside stand them away from the sun, and you against it (crappy but you'll be fine). Also on your previous shots, if you are getting your kids faces extremely white you should "stop down" a tad. You can do this manually if you know how or you can find what is called "exposure compensation" and turn it down to around -1 or so, and play with that until you get what you like on exposing their faces. Now that you have your "kicker" light established how are you going to light their faces. Well you can use reflectors and reflect light back into your face. These can be nice professional reflectors or you can simply buy the white foam board from Wally's World and use that or you can crinkle up some foil and then spread it flat over cardboard and use that. If you want warm light you could go to the extremes of lightly spray-painting the foil a light gold or heavy gold. Now if you want to use your flash, set the "flash exposure compensation" down to around -2 or -1 (or somewhere in that general range). This will tune down your flash to not go crazy on their faces, but gently place enough light to rid ugly, harsh shadows typically associated with sunlight and other harsh light sources.

Now this can be a semi-complicated shot, especially if you're new to photography (shoot or even if you got some experience) but with some practice you'll get it! Good luck. -Justin


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April 14, 2006

 

Rebecca A. Steed 		  As for the photos you already took, if they are digital and if you have photoshop, you can dodge the darker face and lighten it up a bit, or adjust the levels in there.


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April 14, 2006

 

Loretta Kent 		  Thanks so much for all the assist. My pics are digital and Justin's info is great if attempting some type of studio like sitting. Which I have tried to do unsuccessfully. For my usefulness I think I need to learn the photoshop solution. Thanks Becky, I will look through my photoshop book for "dodging" and give it a try.

Loretta


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April 14, 2006

 
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