How should I light different skin colours?

[hyakuhei]

Hi Guys,

I have an event coming up where people can just drop in for a few photos, I've rented some space which I'm going to fill out with my studio gear.

I ran a similar event last year and found getting the exposure right quite tricky. Should I change exposure settings when a pasty white skinned person turns up or a very dark skinned person enters or am I right in thinking that when you have the lighting set up and metered correctly you shouldn't have to adjust the brightness of the lights for the subject provided that they are at the correct distance from the lights?

Thanks for your input
-Rob

 

[Garry Edwards]

There seems to be a theory that people with dark skin need more exposure than people with light skin. Total nonsense of course, because any given exposure will render 'correct' tones regardless of skin colour.

There are some differences of course, many people with black skin have a very reflective skin that can produce unpleasant glare if lit badly - but then so do a lot of caucasion people who've drunk too much or danced too enthusiastically

 

[hyakuhei]

Thanks Garry, thats what I thought.