mixed lighting not for effect

[David Edward Keen]

I have a man with dark brown skin sitting next to a man with "white" skin on a brown couch in a scene. (white wall right behind that i was considering backlighting to another color)

 

Should I have any concern about lighting dark brown man with a warmer tungsten key and simultaneously keying the "white" man next to him with a cooler light?

 

My intent is not to identify the different colors of the lights but simply to light differing skin colors to bring out the qualities. All this in a scene which is overall low key and warm.

 

It's been suggested that if i flag the two sources nicely, it'll work out fine. Just wanna check here to see what's typically done in these types of 2 shots/

[D.C. DuFrane]

First response on here, so veterans please correct me if this is wrong. I think lighting the way you described you will end up with very pale white skin next to the warmly lit dark skin, and probably some awkward looking lighting. I think going with one color temperature for your scene will benefit you, and the skin colors will naturally fall into place where they should in relation to one another. Watch out for reflections on the darker skin, and use negative fill to take some of the harshness out if you're getting them. The negative fill will also really help with the low key look you're going for.

 

Hope that was helpful, and again, if any of this is wrong please correct me, I'm here to learn too!

[Lance Soltys]

For my two cents, I would also at least key with the same color light. I have used gold reflectors to fill some darker skin people which did bring out very nice tones but I kept it pretty subtle. Also, I made sure that the fill didn't play too much on the area surrounding the character. I would think keying with different color lights would appear as if you were doing it for effect.

[David Edward Keen]

Cool thanks guys!