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Shooting African American Actors...


David Beier

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Howdy,

 

I'm currently in pre-production for a short film I'm shooting. It's being filmed in a controlled studio with the heavy studio lights on the actors and the iris closed down as much as possible (F16) in order to throw the backround into total darkness. However, I've run into the problem that one of my actors is black and one is white and thus, with the rather low lattitude of the camera, either the white actor blows out or the black actor is hard to see. It's rather important for the style of the film that they are in the same shot numerous times and as the lights are very high up in the studio, I can't really adjust them much to put more light on one actor or another. Are there any filters I may use which will help the African American actors show up better? Can anyone else think of a practical solution to my problem.

 

I'm also curious about the master pedistal control. I've been messing around with it and have found it helps quite a bit in getting the image quality I want. However, I'm wondering if a low M Pedal setting (-10 or so) will have any unpredictable effects when I got to edit in Avid.

 

Thanks for your help.

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Hi David,

 

You might want to take a look at the video gamma mode you are in. The Low might help you a bit on this shot. Also check your knee setting and drop to Low as well. This will change the contrast range of the image as is is played out in front of the camera.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Jan

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Yes, caucasion skin reflects back ~35% reflectance as opposed to ~ 17% for blacks. So how much light on each is key. David's solution is right on. Don't forget about color as well. Something that I like doing in creating a good skin contrasts for African heritage skin tones against caucasion skin tones above the amount of light falling on the subject is to use a pale lavender in the dark actor's fill light. The blue in the lavender will absorb but the rest comes back quite natural. This will put some "pink" in his color so that the white actor isn't bogarting that 'red' region of the color spectrum which will lead the eye. How dark the lavender depends on the darkness of the skin and mood of the shot of course. It doesn't take much. Just remember to switch it off when you white balance. Good luck

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