Blue Sky on Lighting Dark Complexions
BY HEATH McKINNEY, MESA, AZ, USA - In order to prepare for filming in Zambia, we have been researching and studying everything we might encounter. As a cinematographer, I tend to shoot more caucasians in Mesa. I decided to look for information on what I might encounter photographing darker skin tones.
It was much more difficult than I thought to find information on filming darker skin tones. It seems that I found a lot more quesitons out there than there are answers. One of the places that I found that could give me a reasonable answer was Blue Sky, Lighting Darker Complexions by Walter Graff. They have a nice long tutorial going over the many challenges that you may encounter while filming people with with darker complexion as well as their solution to those problems. Here is the summary of tips which they provide for you.
1) Just because someone has a darker complexion does not mean they need to be lit with more light.
2) The same rules used in attempting to create a sense of depth apply to dark skin as it does for lighter skin. It's about what makes the individual look good, not some rule about light skin or dark.
3) It's also always about the relationship of everything in the frame not just the talent. Sometimes a lighter background helps a darker complexion, and sometimes a darker background is more suitable. It's about what works for that particular individual.
4) Lighting a background to compliment the texture and color of your talent makes for a more appealing frame as opposed to lighting a person for who they are and throwing some light up haphazardly on the background just to illuminate it. The relationship of your talent and the environment is just as important as how the talent looks. Sometimes warm backgrounds work, and other times cooler colored backgrounds compliment the talent best.
5) Everything is about how it looks in the moment. There are no rules in life when it comes to lighting, only guidelines.
Give it a look see here, or check out the other instructional how to's that Blue sky has to offer.