Photographing Black Models

It wasn’t too long ago that this subject was taboo to openly discuss. Thankfully we have grown enough as a society to talk about subjects like this without fear of criticism.
Photographing dark skin presents unique challenges that intimidate a lot of photographers. When I first started shooting I remember that people made comments about the lack of black models in my portfolio. It wasn’t an attitude problem that I had. I was an aptitude problem. I did not know how to capture great images on models with darker skin.
My first problem was the advice I had received. I was first told to change my exposure by one and a half stops, but that brightened the entire image and that made the entire image look washed out and even the skin on the model looked over exposed. The whites of the eyes and the teeth looked way off. When I was shooting in a studio I was told to raise the power of the main light or move it closer to the model. This created all kinds of new havoc with shadows and color.
I would see beautiful images of black models in magazines and books, but I just couldn’t seem to get it quite right. I would get lucky from time to time, but I never knew why a certain image worked. Then I stumbled across the secret. I don’t know why no one ever explained this to me because of its simplicity. It isn’t about how much light you use, but rather the direction of the light.
The late Monty Zucker said, “If I am lighting a black person, I’m not going to change the light, I’m not going to bring it in any closer. I’m not going to open up an extra f-stop.
“The only thing I’m going to do is use the light coming from the side and around the subject. What we need to do when we’re photographing a black person is to bring an extra light in from a 90-degree angle.”
This was the secret that no one ever told me. I had to find it on my own. Where was Monty when I needed him?
The truth is that you do need just a little extra light to truly bring out the specular highlights. These are the key to photographing people with darker skin. If you make them really pop without over exposing the overall image you will have created a beautiful portrait.
The one mistake that you don’t want to make and I think it is most common, is to turn your subject yellow. I see so many white photographers do this. The skin tone is critical and if captured correctly you will see how much more powerful the luster is of African American skin. If you don’t feel confident in seeing this with your naked eye while looking at your LCD monitor on your camera than use a grey card to custom white balance your images.
Once you grasp this simple understanding and technique you will radically change your confidence in shooting black models.