Love this. I would like to see this a in workshop and have it go more in depth with skin tone types, before and after pictures, best settings to use on the flash and cameras etc🙃
I swear to God, your accent makes me miss NYC... good tips, good video... Your work is inspiring... you have a mastery of lighting... but you also find and hold up to us, the Majesty of our Blackness. Thank You for what you do.
Thanks, very interesting. Would love to see you extend this to all 'non-white' skin tones (I live in Asia, so we have all sorts of colors), showing for real examples what you do to bring out the beauty in the people.
This video reminds of a story about about Sidney Poitier, who was often not pleased with the way his face was photographed in movies. He then worked with Jerry Finnerman (Gerald Finnerman) who was a very experienced old school DP (son of a DP). He is well known as virtually creating the look and cinematic style of the original Star Trek. Poitier was so pleased by Finnerman’s work, understanding of film grade, lenses and lighting that they worked together on other movies, and became friends. I think they first worked on The Lost Man.
Very useful tips! I like your photos and skin tones. I’m just getting into the portrait photography. I live in Southern Africa and what I’ve noticed, is that almost all local photographers are overexposing photos in order to achieve light skin tones, which looks terrible, so to say unnatural bleached effect. I don’t know really why they do it, it looks terrible. I’ll try to follow your advises and see what my friends say when they see the photos.
Thx for the tips and conversation. Personally, i have started to ask clients about the final product they want after editing so I don't guess but give them what they want.
In my experience, one problem in exposiure metering is when darker skin people (there are some in my country Indonesia...myself brown ) wearing white clothes, same story when dark skin photographed with bright skin together. This normally happens outdoor shooting in bright ambience.
Hey good tips! I’ve personally been photographing darker skinned people my entire career. I find medium to dark skin to actually be easier to photograph versus light or white. There’s much more play on lighting, angles , emotion vs light skinned subjects. It also depends on the Photographer and their experience/knowledge. Keep posting tips videos always great to hear from fellow photographers. 😊🙏🏼
I agree. And what I meant to say is that skin is a subject just like any other subject. There’s an idea that black skin is harder to light and I think the real fact is that this is based on most settings/scenes only considering white skinned people throughout history. Evidenced by things like the original Shirley card with Kodak. It’s not the subject, it’s the interpretation in terms of what is considered “standard” and how it relates to the other things in the image. Hope that makes sense.
I'm sorry, but this video is a miss, and I have a real tip at the end of this long-ass comment. I'm a black photog and model. I will never forget how frustrating it was to start out without any technical knowledge and not understand why photos of myself never looked correct. I searched for hrs trying to figure out why, googling "how to photograph black skin." Finally watched someone pull up a vectorscope of an ebony black model next to a pale model: vectorscope had the same read out, THE COLORS ARE THE SAME. What was wrong was ME--I wasn't white balancing correctly AND I had awful cheap green tinted Amazon lights. Basic, basic stuff. This vid could be boiled down to "learn the very basic of photography"--don't overexpose? Don't underexpose? Wtf, like yeah? Are folks out here forgetting how to expose and light their subject and sculp the form with light? "Get the right skin tone"? Our skin, black and white and whatever, should all look FINE under the same conditions if we white balance correctly, and even then you may need some editing. Want a real tip for photogging black people? 1) Pay attention to subject to ground relationship, don't lose dark skin in the shadows. 2a) For really dark skin, get more light and focus it on the subject, you may need more light than usual. Pale white skin reflects light. Dark skin absorbs it. Esp hard to light dark skin with RGB! Why isn't that in this video?! 2b) Put a part of your exposure triangle on auto and have a dark model step into frame, observe the settings, then a light model, and do the same. The camera will most likely try to increase the exposure (though this is also dependent on your metering mode). 4) You'll hear that you should avoid warm WB for dark tones... this is not entirely true. Use the correct WB for the right mood. Just be aware that the dark orange or yellow undertones may amplify a warm WB, so be careful that you don't end up over-doing it. And remember to play into the contrast of that dark orange undertone, don't just ignore it. 5) Do not darken or lighten (whitewash) someone's skin in post, to make them look less or more black, or otherwise provide an inaccurate portrayal of skin-tone (unless for artistic effect). Expose the photo and skin properly, and don't erase the tone of their skin. 6) This video IS spot on on this one tip: hire more black photogs and models. There are many articles on dos and don'ts here. But the best thing you can do is shoot with black people! And discover what to do and not to do yourself! Don't be so afraid of screwing up or presenting black people that you stick with your comfort zone. If anyone tries to cancel you, you know where I'm at.
The video isn’t a miss to me. You could have added all your tips without the negative vibes. There’s not just one way and I’m sure your tips are valuable too. Next time just add the advice without tearing down the brother who is just trying to help. Also, making it on a B&H platform gives other ADOS people a voice and creates opportunities for even more exposure and appreciation for our people, our culture, and talents. No offense intended in this statement PEACE ✌🏾
@@TheusDjehuty I agree that this video really did not provide quite the info I was looking for (and I appreciated the tips the commentator gave) but...................... you are also correct that their are better ways to critique. The best way is to acknowledge the postive first (and there were postive notes in the video) and then mention how it coud be even better.
Grab some black and white film, Tmax, FP4, TriX, Delta, just not infrared. Make a portrait of persons with different skin tones. Black, brown, tan, fair, as many variations as you can. Meter with an incident meter. Take the same photos again with a red filter. Take note of what the red filter does to the skin under the same light with equivalent metering.
„hire black people, true representation“. Imagine if a white vogue photographer said „hire white people because they understand white skin color better“. Im black btw. Gained no useful information. Wasted 3 min of my life 🤦🏾♂️
Thanks! Oh! So much more to learn. I can't take moon pictures either, but I'm getting better at this. I had two events with varied skin tones. I think you helped me with my biggest challenge. Time to practice. Again, THANK YOU
This video is so helpful! I'm in my current assignment is portrait photography, all the suggested videos an tutorials are geared towards pale and light complexions. so frustrating. Thank you so much!
Bravo Shotti. Especially when you said “light is light”. Lol. Seriously the tips that hit home is sculpting light and using black teams to shoot black skin. BRAVO
Thank you for the help dude! As a cam op I can say from experience this is incredibly helpful. Thank you sir for providing such valuable information! Keep up the good work!
I am White but i find very fair skin tones to be difficult to photograph. I dont agree that only black photographers should photograph dark skin. I think anyone can who practises and understands diff skin tones etc. It is more about proper education I would say.
He didn’t say that he said hire MORE ADOS bc there aren’t enough. It’s easy to deduce that an ADOS professional would know and understand how to give an ACCURATE (as he says multiple times) depiction of ADOS skin tones. You make it sound as if he said to hire only ADOS and your statement assumes these people would not be as determined to study and comprehend the techniques. That’s not truth that’s your own thoughts being exposed.
@@user-oc6mr1jr6s what do u mean what am I talking about? U implied he said only ADOS should photograph ADOS or so called Black. We know it's about education that's exactly why he made the video in the first place sheesh! BTW ADOS is American Born Descendants of Slaves incase you don't know.
Shotti never said that only black people should photograph black people. He said we should be hiring more people of color to photograph people of color. That is 100% accurate. Your micro aggression is showing.
If you've never had a picture come back where your skin tone and facial features aren't properly exposed, then you wouldn't understand. Try being a black person and going to Super Cuts versus a black barbershop. Our needs aren't met in terms of beauty in a typically non-black setting.
That #5… I can imagine a lot of upset people if someone claimed white people are uniquely qualified to tell nuance between white, tan, pink, pail… Maybe you meant there should be more (high end?) black photographers in which case I would agree but there is likely a better way to make that point.
Who would get upset? Isn’t that what’s happening anyway? He made his point well. This industry needs to hire more qualified black photographers period.
Photography is currently a white-dominated field. What’s wrong with having more black photographers? I think there should be more black photographers in the industry and there should be fair and better representation for them.
Thanks so much for this. I agree hiring black photographers is ideal for shooting black subjects. But as a white dude, I get asked to shoot people with all skin tones. So, I'm always looking for ways to up my game or not embarrass myself. This video was helpful. Thanks!
Hire black photographers to shoot black skin, black tones?? Umm, I hate to break it to you but a lot of black photographers out there can't shoot dark skin properly.........even if their lives depended on it. You think black photographers are the ONLY ones who understand skin tones and "the different complexities of black skin"? I'm a fair skinned photographer living in a Caribbean island - Trinidad - where different arrays of darker skin are the dominant skin tones. Guess what? I'm one of the fairest photographers in the country and I've had to teach black photographers how to shoot darker/dark skin tones/dark objects. Don't get me wrong, if the photographers you work with happen to be black and can shoot darker skin well then that's excellent. But you don't specifically have to seek out BLACK photographers to find some who know the nuances of the full range of darker skin tones. A lot of us folk of fairer complexions know how to shoot dark skin quite well. An actual basic demonstration would have helped this video a lot, even if only on just one or two models.
All good stuff but don't agree with tip no 5. A photographer is a photographer whatever their colour and choosing one should be based on talent alone. If however you need someone to be aware of cultural needs or cultural/national dress etc then choosing a knowledgeable photographer or assistant would be sensible and appropriate...
You dont agree that more black photographers shouldnt be overlooked because of their skin color and that there are really good black photographers out there who should be hired?
Photographers who aren’t pros tend to need the most help with tips. I’d like to help abolish any barriers a new photographer might have between them and a successful career. I choose to do that via the sharing of information, both basic and in-depth. Stay tuned for more!! 😊
Yep. Tip one is spot on. You’ll see the orange/yellow/red tones prevalent with use of hot lights. As you mentioned, WB has to be accurate.
Love this. I would like to see this a in workshop and have it go more in depth with skin tone types, before and after pictures, best settings to use on the flash and cameras etc🙃
Great idea!
I swear to God, your accent makes me miss NYC... good tips, good video... Your work is inspiring... you have a mastery of lighting... but you also find and hold up to us, the Majesty of our Blackness. Thank You for what you do.
🥹
Thanks, very interesting. Would love to see you extend this to all 'non-white' skin tones (I live in Asia, so we have all sorts of colors), showing for real examples what you do to bring out the beauty in the people.
Thank you for your comment, we will share with our production team.
This video reminds of a story about about Sidney Poitier, who was often not pleased with the way his face was photographed in movies. He then worked with Jerry Finnerman (Gerald Finnerman) who was a very experienced old school DP (son of a DP). He is well known as virtually creating the look and cinematic style of the original Star Trek. Poitier was so pleased by Finnerman’s work, understanding of film grade, lenses and lighting that they worked together on other movies, and became friends. I think they first worked on The Lost Man.
Thanks for sharing!
Very useful tips! I like your photos and skin tones. I’m just getting into the portrait photography. I live in Southern Africa and what I’ve noticed, is that almost all local photographers are overexposing photos in order to achieve light skin tones, which looks terrible, so to say unnatural bleached effect. I don’t know really why they do it, it looks terrible. I’ll try to follow your advises and see what my friends say when they see the photos.
Thx for the tips and conversation. Personally, i have started to ask clients about the final product they want after editing so I don't guess but give them what they want.
Loved how concise, yet informative and beautifully produced this video was. ❤
Thanks for this video I was struggling with my clients but this is so helpful
In my experience, one problem in exposiure metering is when darker skin people (there are some in my country Indonesia...myself brown ) wearing white clothes, same story when dark skin photographed with bright skin together. This normally happens outdoor shooting in bright ambience.
A good reason to use an incident meter!
Hey good tips! I’ve personally been photographing darker skinned people my entire career. I find medium to dark skin to actually be easier to photograph versus light or white. There’s much more play on lighting, angles , emotion vs light skinned subjects. It also depends on the Photographer and their experience/knowledge. Keep posting tips videos always great to hear from fellow photographers. 😊🙏🏼
I agree. And what I meant to say is that skin is a subject just like any other subject. There’s an idea that black skin is harder to light and I think the real fact is that this is based on most settings/scenes only considering white skinned people throughout history. Evidenced by things like the original Shirley card with Kodak. It’s not the subject, it’s the interpretation in terms of what is considered “standard” and how it relates to the other things in the image. Hope that makes sense.
@@shottinyc most definitely!
@@shottinyc BS
Thank you for the tips, another tool to use in my work if needed, peace and stay safe
Can you do a tutorial on how to edit and colour grade dark or black skin ?
Thanks for the suggestion, will share with our production team,
I'm sorry, but this video is a miss, and I have a real tip at the end of this long-ass comment. I'm a black photog and model. I will never forget how frustrating it was to start out without any technical knowledge and not understand why photos of myself never looked correct. I searched for hrs trying to figure out why, googling "how to photograph black skin." Finally watched someone pull up a vectorscope of an ebony black model next to a pale model: vectorscope had the same read out, THE COLORS ARE THE SAME. What was wrong was ME--I wasn't white balancing correctly AND I had awful cheap green tinted Amazon lights. Basic, basic stuff. This vid could be boiled down to "learn the very basic of photography"--don't overexpose? Don't underexpose? Wtf, like yeah? Are folks out here forgetting how to expose and light their subject and sculp the form with light? "Get the right skin tone"? Our skin, black and white and whatever, should all look FINE under the same conditions if we white balance correctly, and even then you may need some editing.
Want a real tip for photogging black people?
1) Pay attention to subject to ground relationship, don't lose dark skin in the shadows.
2a) For really dark skin, get more light and focus it on the subject, you may need more light than usual. Pale white skin reflects light. Dark skin absorbs it. Esp hard to light dark skin with RGB! Why isn't that in this video?!
2b) Put a part of your exposure triangle on auto and have a dark model step into frame, observe the settings, then a light model, and do the same. The camera will most likely try to increase the exposure (though this is also dependent on your metering mode).
4) You'll hear that you should avoid warm WB for dark tones... this is not entirely true. Use the correct WB for the right mood. Just be aware that the dark orange or yellow undertones may amplify a warm WB, so be careful that you don't end up over-doing it. And remember to play into the contrast of that dark orange undertone, don't just ignore it.
5) Do not darken or lighten (whitewash) someone's skin in post, to make them look less or more black, or otherwise provide an inaccurate portrayal of skin-tone (unless for artistic effect). Expose the photo and skin properly, and don't erase the tone of their skin.
6) This video IS spot on on this one tip: hire more black photogs and models.
There are many articles on dos and don'ts here. But the best thing you can do is shoot with black people! And discover what to do and not to do yourself! Don't be so afraid of screwing up or presenting black people that you stick with your comfort zone. If anyone tries to cancel you, you know where I'm at.
Thank you for adding additional tips to this video. 😊
The video isn’t a miss to me. You could have added all your tips without the negative vibes. There’s not just one way and I’m sure your tips are valuable too. Next time just add the advice without tearing down the brother who is just trying to help. Also, making it on a B&H platform gives other ADOS people a voice and creates opportunities for even more exposure and appreciation for our people, our culture, and talents. No offense intended in this statement PEACE ✌🏾
@@TheusDjehuty I agree that this video really did not provide quite the info I was looking for (and I appreciated the tips the commentator gave) but...................... you are also correct that their are better ways to critique. The best way is to acknowledge the postive first (and there were postive notes in the video) and then mention how it coud be even better.
Tip no 5, very important. Cool photos yo.
Loved all 5 tips! Thank you
Love this one! Thanks for the great info 👏🏾
Glad it was helpful!
I’m new to photography, also a black photographer, and I appreciate this video a lot. It’s really helpful!
Grab some black and white film, Tmax, FP4, TriX, Delta, just not infrared. Make a portrait of persons with different skin tones. Black, brown, tan, fair, as many variations as you can. Meter with an incident meter. Take the same photos again with a red filter. Take note of what the red filter does to the skin under the same light with equivalent metering.
Beautifully done. Thank you very much for this.
Very helpful, love your work BTW.
Thank you...very informative....
„hire black people, true representation“. Imagine if a white vogue photographer said „hire white people because they understand white skin color better“. Im black btw. Gained no useful information. Wasted 3 min of my life 🤦🏾♂️
As always, really solid tips!
Really nice work. Half my customers are people of color(mostly black), and each face is different. When done right, they're amazing.
Visiting West-Africa, I have always a mini-flash on my camera. Just a little bit fill light.
Thanks! Oh! So much more to learn. I can't take moon pictures either, but I'm getting better at this. I had two events with varied skin tones. I think you helped me with my biggest challenge. Time to practice. Again, THANK YOU
This video is so helpful! I'm in my current assignment is portrait photography, all the suggested videos an tutorials are geared towards pale and light complexions. so frustrating. Thank you so much!
Bravo Shotti. Especially when you said “light is light”. Lol. Seriously the tips that hit home is sculpting light and using black teams to shoot black skin. BRAVO
😂😂😂 that was directly for you!!
Thank you for the help dude! As a cam op I can say from experience this is incredibly helpful. Thank you sir for providing such valuable information! Keep up the good work!
Glad you found this video helpful, thanks for watching!
I am White but i find very fair skin tones to be difficult to photograph. I dont agree that only black photographers should photograph dark skin. I think anyone can who practises and understands diff skin tones etc. It is more about proper education I would say.
He didn’t say that he said hire MORE ADOS bc there aren’t enough. It’s easy to deduce that an ADOS professional would know and understand how to give an ACCURATE (as he says multiple times) depiction of ADOS skin tones. You make it sound as if he said to hire only ADOS and your statement assumes these people would not be as determined to study and comprehend the techniques. That’s not truth that’s your own thoughts being exposed.
What are you talking about?
@@user-oc6mr1jr6s what do u mean what am I talking about? U implied he said only ADOS should photograph ADOS or so called Black. We know it's about education that's exactly why he made the video in the first place sheesh! BTW ADOS is American Born Descendants of Slaves incase you don't know.
Shotti never said that only black people should photograph black people. He said we should be hiring more people of color to photograph people of color. That is 100% accurate. Your micro aggression is showing.
Great tips!
Love this video. THANK YOU!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@BandH Much appreciated 🙌🏾
Hey video was helpful❤
Can you make a video on how to take pictures of dark skin tone people on phone?
Sorry but black needs to photo black like saying white should only photo white. Lame
If you've never had a picture come back where your skin tone and facial features aren't properly exposed, then you wouldn't understand. Try being a black person and going to Super Cuts versus a black barbershop. Our needs aren't met in terms of beauty in a typically non-black setting.
Thank you!!!!!
Thank you! 👍
Thanks for watching!
Any advice for shooting on film?
That #5… I can imagine a lot of upset people if someone claimed white people are uniquely qualified to tell nuance between white, tan, pink, pail… Maybe you meant there should be more (high end?) black photographers in which case I would agree but there is likely a better way to make that point.
Who would get upset? Isn’t that what’s happening anyway? He made his point well. This industry needs to hire more qualified black photographers period.
You just said it, and no one cared… no one was offended.
Totally missed the point Brad
I agree so called brad. #5 could of just been of this list and it would of been perfect.
Photography is currently a white-dominated field. What’s wrong with having more black photographers? I think there should be more black photographers in the industry and there should be fair and better representation for them.
Tip #5 for me!
🔥🔥🔥
Thank you!
Great information vary helpful thanks 💯
Thanks so much for this. I agree hiring black photographers is ideal for shooting black subjects. But as a white dude, I get asked to shoot people with all skin tones. So, I'm always looking for ways to up my game or not embarrass myself. This video was helpful. Thanks!
just use an incident lightmeter. and proper white balance. it's easy no matter what skin type
also true!
Great tips. Would be nice to get some tips on taking shots of the hands especially for dark complexions. Hope you see this comment.
#5 is thee most important one!!!
Thank you , I'm doing a photo session with two gals soon, with dark skin tones
Thought that was kshine
It was.
Lightroom auto edit makes my GF orange; wtf. . Our son is pasty faced like me; photographing him and his mum together can be a challenge. . . Thanks.
Hire black photographers to shoot black skin, black tones?? Umm, I hate to break it to you but a lot of black photographers out there can't shoot dark skin properly.........even if their lives depended on it. You think black photographers are the ONLY ones who understand skin tones and "the different complexities of black skin"? I'm a fair skinned photographer living in a Caribbean island - Trinidad - where different arrays of darker skin are the dominant skin tones. Guess what? I'm one of the fairest photographers in the country and I've had to teach black photographers how to shoot darker/dark skin tones/dark objects. Don't get me wrong, if the photographers you work with happen to be black and can shoot darker skin well then that's excellent. But you don't specifically have to seek out BLACK photographers to find some who know the nuances of the full range of darker skin tones. A lot of us folk of fairer complexions know how to shoot dark skin quite well. An actual basic demonstration would have helped this video a lot, even if only on just one or two models.
important information, listen
lol sure
All good stuff but don't agree with tip no 5. A photographer is a photographer whatever their colour and choosing one should be based on talent alone. If however you need someone to be aware of cultural needs or cultural/national dress etc then choosing a knowledgeable photographer or assistant would be sensible and appropriate...
You dont agree that more black photographers shouldnt be overlooked because of their skin color and that there are really good black photographers out there who should be hired?
Black skin tones on black history month 😂
Hire a pro , these tips are basic stuff .
Photographers who aren’t pros tend to need the most help with tips. I’d like to help abolish any barriers a new photographer might have between them and a successful career. I choose to do that via the sharing of information, both basic and in-depth. Stay tuned for more!! 😊
Thank you for the informative video.
Glad it was helpful!