Joined at the hip

[Phoenixolivia]

Two sibling children in Gulu, Uganda, where children often take care of children.

[tegan]

When shooting dark skinned people on automatic, detail is lost in the facial area and that is the most important part of the image.

There are multiple approaches to solving this problem. Zoom or move in so that the camera meter is taking a reading just from the skin. Read it from the viewfinder and then set the camera manually for that setting, zoom out or move back to compose the shot. Another approach is with the camera viewfinder having just the skin in the viewfinder partially depress the shutter to lock in the reading and then back off or zoom out to compose the photo.

Fill flash would normally also be an option but not in a very bright environment. Setting your camera to over-expose by perhaps a half to a full stop might work as well. Using a bright building for example to act as a reflector also works but location, framing and composition are extremely important to get the appropriate effect of brightening the face.

Tegan