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Darker skin tones
Does anyone have any words of wisdom for in camera tweaks on an HDX900 to make the most of darker skin tones?
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8 Replies
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[nickhigz] ”
Does anyone have any words of wisdom for in camera tweaks on an HDX900 to make the most of darker skin tones?”
Nick,
This is a hard question to answer without knowing what “make the most of” means.
You can make the midtones lighter by lowering the gamma number in the menu.
You can change the overall color of the image by adjusting the RGB gain or perhaps RGB gamma controls.
You can change the color/hue/saturation of specific colors using the color correction/matrix controls. With this approach you could target only colors close to skin tone, but of course any skin tone color will receive the change whether or not it’s on someone’s skin. It’s best to make these adjustments using a DSC Chroma DuMonde color chart while viewing on your monitor and a vectorscope.
Personally, I think the best approach is to light the people so they look good 🙂
-bruce
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[nickhigz] ”
Does anyone have any words of wisdom for in camera tweaks on an HDX900 to make the most of darker skin tones?”
Nick,
This is a hard question to answer without knowing what “make the most of” means.
You can make the midtones lighter by lowering the gamma number in the menu.
You can change the overall color of the image by adjusting the RGB gain or perhaps RGB gamma controls.
You can change the color/hue/saturation of specific colors using the color correction/matrix controls. With this approach you could target only colors close to skin tone, but of course any skin tone color will receive the change whether or not it’s on someone’s skin. It’s best to make these adjustments using a DSC Chroma DuMonde color chart while viewing on your monitor and a vectorscope.
Personally, I think the best approach is to light the people so they look good 🙂
-bruce
Varicam/Steadicam Owner
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.brucealangreene.com -
Bruce, thanks for your response. Not sure what to add to help decipher “making the most of” in the context of photographing darker skin tones…..I am racking my brain as to what else it could mean.
I guess lowering the gamma is the best of the options I have as there will be many different skin tones in the scenes. Lighting is not really an option for the majority of the production as its mostly verite. Gamma tweaks and finger crossing that there will be adequate pools of light may be the order of the day.
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Actually, you are “lighting” even when you are not using instruments.
You are lighting when you select your locations and camera angles so that whatever light source is there is optimized for your subjects.
If at all possible, choose a darker background for your darker complected subjects.
I would avoid doing anything heroic to your camera settings for fear of unintended results.
Good shooting!
Leo
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If you use a dark background with a dark complected person, you would you not lose contrast? Try bringing up your gamma levels or the black stretch.
edward chick
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No.
All video cameras have trouble with limited dynamic range; lower-end models are just not acceptable in handling extreme contrast.
The most difficult challenge is lighting dark skin against a white background.
Darker backgrounds allow you to bring out the richness of the skin tone with more steps of gradation.
Good shooting!
Leo
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Leo & co
Just a quick note of thanks for the advice you all gave prior to our West Africa shoot. I’d say the dark background tip was a real winner and really allowed me to expose for the faces without the back end clipping out.
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I’m very pleased that your shoot turned out well and I greatly appreciate your kind comments!
Good shooting!
Leo
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