Lesson learned - Exposing for the SKIN

As some of you may have seen this past weekend I snapped off a few shots of a friends little bundle of joy. The model is adorable, she is the cutest thing ever (except for my kids that is!) but something irked me about them. I couldn't put my finger on at first, then like driving a mac truck at 60mph and running into a brick wall, it hit me. The skin tones were not consistent, they were all crazy! The pictures themselves are adorable and any grandmother or proud aunt would be ecstatic over them, but from a technically correct stand point they are abysmal.

I posted my edits on a forum asking where I was going wrong and was pleased to FINALLY get some constructive criticism back. A wonderful man from Australian explained where I was going wrong. I'm going to share his advice with you all. It's a little long and detailed but it truly has helped me immensely! I am also going to share our correspondences with my examples to demonstrate how and where I went wrong (again).

His responses are in green and mine are in purple... I love purple... It's so pretty...

Evaluative metering - and what that means for skin tones.

In any and all metering modes, the light meter reads the tones it sees in a scene and then adjusts the tones internally to get an 'average' tone, as close as it can to medium grey...OK - let's go with Evaluative metering...

Suppose you point your camera at a scene that has only one tone... say a huge white wall. What does your camera do? - It adjusts the white tone down to middle grey - and when you look at the photograph, the wall is medium grey..!! Try this... Then try pointing your camera at huge black wall... The camera will adjust the black tone up and you will have a photograph where the black wall is medium grey..!!Take this example a bit further: dress a toddler in a black tuxedo and plonk him at the base of the huge white wall and take a pic from say 30 feet away... So the camera "sees" the huge expanse of white wall and the small toddler - and "evaluates" the tones it sees - a huge expanse of white (wall) and a small dark speck (the toddler)...

Since there is a LOT more white, the camera will adjust the tone down towards medium grey - it will virtually 'ignore' the toddler - and what you will get is a photograph of a grey wall and an even darker looking speck of a toddler...

So lets foot-zoom in to say 5 feet away from the toddler...So now what is the camera seeing... 47% the white wall behind, 47% the black tuxedo... and that cute (but small - 6%) face... So the camera is going to adjust for the white and black - and virtually ignore that cute little face... So you are going to get a photograph where the wall and the tuxedo may look ?reasonably okay - but that cute face is going to look grey and that is not what we want...We don't want great pictures of walls and tuxedos, we want good skin tones...So we should meter on the toddler's skin - right??

Let's stay in evaluative metering mode and assume we have a very cooperative toddler...Choose your desired aperture. So go right up to the toddler and stick the lens in his face so that 'all' the camera sees is the skin tone... (you might want to give him something to eat while you do this... LOL) Adjust your shutter speed until the camera tells you it has a 'correct' exposure. So now your camera can only see the tone of the toddler's skin - and it will adjust the tone down to achieve the medium grey that it loves... NOTE the AP and SS values...

RULE TO REMEMBER: the facial skin tone of a Caucasian child is one to one-and-a-half tones brighter than the medium gray the camera chooses.

Remember that rule ^^^^^^^^^^^Your camera "thinks" it has the correct exposure (but has actually adjusted itself downwards to medium grey - so if you took a photograph with these values the toddler's face will come out grey/dark)But WE want the proper exposure here... we want to replicate the tone of the toddler's face... and to get the proper exposure we have to tell the camera that we want this exposure to be one to one-and-a-half tones lighter... Per the RULE... so we increase the exposure by one to one-and-a-half stops by decreasing the shutter speed that desired amount - because that is the tone of the toddler's skin... then foot-zoom out to your chosen distance, focus, and take the shot...

That's the kernel of exposing for skin...Expose only for the skin. Adjust your camera for "proper" exposure...(the actual 'brightness' of Caucasian toddler skin varies)

(you don't have to actually stick the lens into the child's face if you use spot/centre-point metering)

Remedy: zoom right in on the brightest part of the bub's skin (forehead or right cheek) fill the viewfinder with skin - doesn't matter if it's not in focus (better still, use spot/centre point metering), note the reading, adjust for "proper" exposure as per the "rule" - *click... go and find a cooperative child!

OK, so my willing participant passed out on the couch because we were up at 545 this am... how come I feel like I'm using him? HA!

Anyway, perfect natural light and a willing subject. I did a little experiment with the different meterings. First I set up the Evaluative Metering and tried to do exactly what you said. I still see some inconsistencies in the color (please disregard the focus, I know it's not good but it's not what I was shooting for today!). I took a picture of the lightest part (his cheek) and it was obviously -exp. Per the rule I increased exp 1 stop (1.5 just seemed too bright). First shot seems good and very true to his coloring. Second and third shots are too something (red??) but I'm assuming that is because there is an increased % of skin? The third shot is better but only slightly. Fourth shot is better again but maybe because of decreased skin?

I repeated these experiment with Partial and Center-Weighted metering just to fully understand the whole concept and how it would be effected by the "rule". I know that there are more than likely different rules for each metering type but what the heck, he was asleep! I just wanted to share my findings. Again, I did not worry about focusing, as you may well see very clearly (or not so clearly). I see a little more consistency with the partial metering. Is that just because of the type of metering? A couple of them seem a little -exp but overall the color seems better to me. What do you think?

With the center weighted metering it goes from one extreme to the other. I broke out of my cookie cutter tight frames and included some of the wall in one and it completely changed the color of his skin (too much yellow?)! Over all the center one seems too grey to me. What do you think?

just quick cos I'm on my way to work. Looks like the exposure is changing. Please check: Manual Exp Choose desired Ap. Nothing in the viewfinder except skin - no eyes, nose, ears - or use spot.Adjust SS to obtain "correct" exposure. Note what camera says is "correct" exposure Add 1 stop (decrease SS)Shoot from desired position (anywhere you like)Now then, as long as child is in the same light then keep this exposure set.

IGNORE what the meter says. The meter will go everywhere as you move around (white wall/black wall)IGNORE WHAT THE METER TELLS YOU - KEEP THE EXPOSURE YOU SET. Stand anywhere you like - as long as the child is in the same light - and as long as you keep the same exposure you set for his skin, his skin will always be well exposed - even stand with him between you and the window with the window in the shot - the window will blow - but his skin will still be exposed...

You know what, I think you're right. Thinking back I kept adjusting the exposure to keep it at +1oe! So, what you're saying is I should set it and then just leave it alone completely? Seems too easy... Don't tell me I have been creating more work than I should of!

Yes - exactly right... Once you have set exposure for his skin - then DON'T ADJUST THE EXPOSURE AGAIN - as long as kiddo is in the same light...You will see the meter going CRAZY as you move around and change angles - just laugh at that crazy meter...See - what is happening is: your camera's meter constantly updates for what it sees... If the background changes (beige sofa/blue wall) then your camera sees this and the meter updates...BUT - what you have done is set your camera at the proper exposure for your baby's skin tones... And your camera will always expose his skin at those values... So - wherever you stand, whatever angle, near or far, provided kiddo is in the same light, you will always get a perfect exposure for his skin...So - yes - ignore the meter once you have made your setting per the 'rule'.Seems deceptively simple - but, really, basic camera science...Important though - if the light changes - you have to reset...So on a day when the clouds are moving - indoor or outdoor shots, when a cloud covers the sun, then the light will change - and the exposure will not be correct any more...There is an outdoor technique similar to this - "Exposing for the Sky" - and I will post that later...In the meantime - Yeah...

So, with all this information I'm going to try again. I haven't had time yet to go crazy with this but look for some future posts/shoots dedicated to skin exposures!

I hope that if you made it through thus far you have learned something too. I will carry this lesson with me for the rest of my life... thanks "jedo_03".