Okay - I KNOW there was a previous post on this topic, but I cannot find it and the search isn't working for me at the moment. Any tips for shooting a family where the mom and dad are a mixed couple and the dad is very dark black??

Put the darker-skinned people closer to your main light. I've found that balances things out.

The _real_ trick is shooting a mixed UP couple.

But for most shots your only real choice is to expose for the lighter-skinned people and retouch the dark skinned ones later.

Here's a link. If it doesn't work, it's from shootsmarter.com . It's in the Chris Grey smarticle section towards the bottom. You may have to register, (it's free) in order to get in, but I thought it might help you....

I've had weddings like this MANY times and I love it! I've never had a problem with lighting, etc., but something I think is really important is making sure that you are diffusing light REALLY well. I use Fong's contraption, but there are other ways to do it - bounce behind you, ceiling, walls, other devices. I just hate it when I inadvertenly make a dark-skinned person look like a white guy! Go to my website www.stacycross.com, click on weddings, then on portfolio, then "Mark and Mary" - this is a wedding I just did and all of the colors turned out very well with the lightsphere.

Thanks guys! This is helpful - I'll have to experiment.

I would meter (center weight) for the darker of the two. If you meter for the lighter, you will invariably under expose the darker subject. From a customer service standpoint, most dark complected clents will balk at being exposed darker than they really are and you may also inject a little noise into your image. It's a catch 22 but you come out better overall by exposing for the darker client. In the end, your exposure will not be off by that much.


Andy

Stacy is 100% correct. The Light Sphere does a great job wraping the light and making this a non issue.