djtravels Loc: Georgia boy now

Please read JR1's reply again. Then see if he's joking.

dparker708

People of color is the correct term!

Mercer Loc: Houston, TX, USA

You cannot look at this beautiful child without smiling.

anotherview Loc: California

Good question, and one, it seems, nearly all photographers avoid addressing. Whatever racial group you photograph, skin tones remain a difficult aspect of getting the right tonal values for a natural look. As well, skin tones vary from individual to individual.

In general, you may wish to select each individual's face for adjustment of skin tone.

But you may not have to if the image has a good overall exposure. Flash lighting fill will help here. Often, once you gain a good exposure for the skin tone of one subject, the rest fall into place -- assuming you have not selected just one face for adjustment. In fact, this approach provides a reference for achieving natural skin tones throughout the image.

I use the Hue/Saturation adjustment for this purpose. Try also the Color Balance adjustment, for it provides a fine-tuning that may prove very useful for producing natural-looking skin tones.

Black people: Generally, their skin tone contains more red. The camera sensor will render their skin tone over-red. So back off the red's saturation and adjust its lightness for a natural skin tone. The yellow may also need a similar adjustment.

Asian people: As a rule, their skin tone contains more yellow. But again you will see much variation of skin tone.

White people: This group remains hard to categorize due to so much variation. You may find, however, that working with the red and magenta tones will gain a close approximation of a natural skin tone.

Note that even so-called professional photographers (typically the ones with a photojournalism or a film-era background) simply ignore this difficult aspect of image development. Instead, they simply apply a warming filter that renders skin tones orange or red -- not very flattering, and certainly not natural-looking. Do not copy this lazy approach.

BTW: I cannot give visual examples here because I follow a strict policy of not showing images of adult individuals unless I first gain their permission.

Good luck.

Bluff Sloping to Seashore, Baja California

David Kay Loc: Arlington Heights IL

I also went to this article and found that it has a misprint in it. It says the following: "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 white skin because the camera meter is trying to go to neutral gray, it actually closes down. So to get it correct you need to open up the expoure, not close down. For black skin the meter says it should be neutral gray and is giving you a reading that is more open. So you need to close down from the reading. Every persons skin is a slightly different shade. So you have to adjust the amount you open and close based on the subjects actual skin color.

amyinsparta Loc: White county, TN

I think the correct term would be 'human' or 'person'. Color has nothing to do with anything. It's a term used to separate instead of join.

twitcher32 Loc: North Carolina/Costa Rica

Tink, I knew exactly to whom you refered. Perhaps the phrase is not commonly used in the UK. Having lived and worked in Africa for many years, I usually meter skin tones closely or open up one stop; by all means avoid open sun for such shots. Bracketing shots will help you learn the best technique for your style.

Ralloh Loc: Ohio

And I bet you didn't have to do anything special to get the shot either.

nanaval Loc: Cornwall

She is a real cutie Bret :-)

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

Yeah but the silly politically correct crap does not address the REAL issue of photographing skin color. So consider "people of color" to be a technical term. In this case color has EVERYTHING to to with it.

I learned year ago that "politically correct is intellectually dishonest."

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Don't worry about your vernacular. It is not an insult. My black friends always ask when this comes up, "Then what are white people?" Lol. Just meter for the darkest skin much like you would a blackbird against a bright sky.

dave sproul Loc: Tucson AZ

I have not tested this, but I think I remember from a Bryan Peterson article that he uses the term “Mr. Green Jeans” for an exposure process which is (paraphrased) below.

When metering intensly black and/or white compositions:
Establish the exposure using trhe camera’s metering sytem by focusing on some green object, e.g. Plants, grass, etc;
Corrrect the exposure reading to minus two-thirds (-⅔) from the meter reading above.
Using this exposure setting as a basic starting point,
THEN either recompose and take the picture OR adjust the aperture and shutter speed for the desired DOF or action freezing THEN recompose and take the picture.

I hope I remembered this correctly. I would be interested in your results IF you decide to use the above.

MyPharo Loc: New Jersey

Man You need to drink DECAF Coffee .. lol You are brutal. The question was legit and you pounced on him like a cat on a mouse .. You See EVERY ONE ELSE in the world is not as good as you are when it comes to Photography .. and some times they have questions that they like to get an answer to and With all your Vast Knowledge in the Field I loved the simple answer . Point n shoot the camera .. Awww if life and photography was so easy .. CHILL .

David Popham Loc: French Creek, British Columbia

I think you mean Caucasian. Anglo refers to those who have their origins in England.

gemlenz Loc: Gilbert Arizona

In the article they mention an incident meter. WHat if you don't have one?