Would the same rules for shooting black skin apply for shooting dark
Hispanic skin? I'd like to do some portrait work, and we have a large (and
still growing) Hispanic population in our area -- an incredible, virtually
untapped market for photography.
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 3:12 PM
Subject: Re: Supra for portraits (was Re: Who here uses a monopod?)
> In a message dated 1/25/01 8:28:53 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> << Subj: Supra for portraits (was Re: Who here uses a monopod?)
> Date: 1/25/01 8:28:53 AM Pacific Standard Time
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (tom)
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> > And the *ONLY* film that can outscan it is... tada! SUPRA 100*!
> > *World class portraits with SUPRA 100.
>
> Mafud, in explaining his use of SUPRA, says: I shoot mostly people of
color.
> I used KODAK EKTAPRESS almost exclusively since 1995. SUPRA is the
emulsion
> replacing EKTAPRESS. Both EKTAPRESS and SUPRA, unlike emulsions formulated
to
> reproduce either greens and blues (Fuji) very well or reds/oranges (Kodak)
do
> a lousy job reproducing Black or otherwise "dark" skin.
> SUPRA and EKTAPRESS take away a lot of the "white skin" penalties in color
> film when shooting people of color. Both handle the dread "specular"
> highlights** (shiny spots on black skin) very well. Because both are
medium
> contrast emulsions, both treat fair skin as it is seen.
> *We've all seen the images; black male subject, looking shiny and greasy
> (because the sorry photographer, who don't know diddly about shooting
black
> skin, (has the subject smear his face with petroleum jelly then wipe most
of
> it off ), and doesn't know what to do with the specular highlights decides
> that "shiny all over" is the best way to shoot this client (remember all
> those Michael Jordan commercials, His "Airness," bald and greasy)?
> Well, by damn, today "shiny all over" is the almost universal "style" when
> shooting black males.
> *Almost without exception, "pro" or amateur, modern print and slide
emulsions
> are also formulated to give white skin a "glow" or "tan." Even Casper, the
> ghostly white "friendly Ghost" would have a tan with most modern color
> emulsions.
> What looks "healthy" or "good" on white skin is intensified in a negative
way
> in Black skin.
> Worse, using most modern emulsions, any shadows in portraits of people of
> color are most times a sickly green-black or blue-black.
> Only full face, "Hollywood lighting" (strobe on top, reflector on bottom,
> strobe to camera right/left elevated just above the subject's eyes) works
to
> fully illuminate black skin. The worse attribute of most modern emulsions
> with black skin? The eyes most times are *not* illuminated and when they
are,
> the whites look "distorted" (actually extra white), drawing attention to
the
> eyes in an unglamorous way.
> *Black women wearing blue, green, white, silver, gold, light yellow
make-up
> over their eyelids or brows or red blush (since black people as a rule
cannot
> "blush") [blush: a reddening of the subcutaneous layer of human skin
because
> of a pooling of blood], many times look like caricatures of themselves in
> that most (white) portrait photographers, skilled as they are with whites
and
> white skin, don't know diddly about shooting black skin or black faces.
> And because they see nothing "wrong" in their white approach to shooting
> black skin, they do a terrible injustice to their dark skinned clients.
> *Please, no need to say "I know how" or "not me" or worse: "there's no
> difference in shooting black skin and white skin."
> Yeah, right!
> Example: most studio strobes are from 5500 to 6000* (blue) Kelvin. If the
> photographer is shooting black skin and does not use a CC 20 magenta gel
over
> their strobes top compensate, the black client will be "off color."
> *I'm fuzzy here, but two makers manufacture strobes at 4800 and 5300
degrees
> Kelvin, BALCAR being one (I forget the other name). 4800 and 5300 degree
> Kelvin lights, because they are "redder" than the others, do a fair job of
> compensating for the horrors of color film emulsions on black skin.
> *Black skin, shot in B&W and correctly lit, looks gorgeous compared to
black
> skin shot in color.
> The same formulation that produces "tans" in white skin turns black skin
> "reddish." Add the "blue" light of 6000 Kelvin strobes and you get the
> blue-black green-black shadows along with a general flattening of the skin
> texture.
>
> Whew! First lessons on how to shoot black people are over.
>
> <<Do you have some scans to show us?>>
>
> No, but the KODAK "pro" site does. I would rather you go there to make
your
> anaysis than lookat my scans, where the viewer can infer that I somehow
> manipulated the images. And nope. Because if you won't believe KODAK, no
way
> you'd believe me.
>
> <<How do you like it compared to the Portras in terms of color and
> contrast?>>
>
> As to PORTA. There was a raging argument on the PDML about PORTRA that
only
> died out when I unsubsribed from the list.
> I insisted then, as now, and being a member of KODAK'S POE (Promise of
> Excellence) professional program and a charter member of the KODAK
Viewfinder
> Forum, that you can't "rate" the PORTRA emulsions.
> "Rating" the 160 0r 400 PORTRA emulsions is an excersize in futility. But
> there are those who would insist, and do, loudly, that "rating" a PORTRA
160
> emulsion at ISO 125 or 100 gives better exposures and denser negatives. Me
> and KODAK heartily disagree.
> *KODAK'S pre and post-release technical data sheets on PORTRA empahtically
> state: "Shoot at box speed."
>
> The PORTRA *VC* emissions have all the sins of regualr "pro" or amateur
color
> films in that they "go for the glow" (tan). PORTRA NC emulsions do a
better
> job handling black skin, but not that much better. PORTRA NC emulsions
*do*
> have their medium contrast charms to partly redeem them (in my eyes). I
shoot
> PORTRA NC emusions with selected clients.
>
> Mafud, pulling on his Kevlar bulletproof protective armor, slips quietly
out
> the side door.
>
> Mafud
> Zawadi Imaging & Media Company
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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