Are there any special considerations for photographing people with very dark skin?

Answer 1

I have changed your question from "How do you shoot black people. There will be a photo shoot later today..." to

"Are there any special considerations for photographing people with very dark skin?" because based on my knowledge, THAT is a legitimate question. Your wording could be taken out of context. My answer is given in all seriousness and no disparagement is intended to anyone.

Without delving into specifics and variations of light meters, in many cases the light meter system in a camera "averages" the highlights and shadows to 18% reflectance. Assuming you are Caucasian and not deeply tanned, try this:

point the camera (or light meter) at a surface and fill the viewfinder without worrying about being in focus. Take a reading. Take a reading off of your hand (ensure it receives the same type and amount of lighting as the first surface...do not cast any shadow over your hand). The difference indicated for your hand should be one stop less in exposure. This is because that type of skin reflects "one stop" more light than 18%. Once a base line is determined by this method, your hand can be substituted for an 18% gray card as long as you remember whether or not there is a difference. Usually, a dark-skinned person who tries this experiment would find no difference in the two readings. However, if this test were compared against other regions of their body, the reading might indicate an increase of one stop.

Therefore, as long as a dark skinned subject does not comprise too much (percentage-wise) of the view finder, I would suggest no adjustment is needed. However, if this is a close-up, a one-half to one stop decrease in exposure may prove prudent.