Read on Twitter
Modern photography and makeup advice have trained us to look for a “brighter” (lighter) cross over our central forehead down our nose and across our cheeks, as if it is normal to be “brighter” (lighter)
And then we learn to read these artificial colorings as “natural”
And then we learn to read these artificial colorings as “natural”
The idea is to “illuminate” but can we make ourselves visible without mapping visibility to a lightening “brightening” activity?
Part of the genius of Moonlight was a refusal to think of illuminating people in terms of casting whiter tones onto skin in order to make it visible
Part of the genius of Moonlight was a refusal to think of illuminating people in terms of casting whiter tones onto skin in order to make it visible
I started thinking about this recently and now I can’t stop seeing it in the photography on makeup websites, which people then copy on social media, which people then reproduce in real life. And I think the point is that this lighting sells makeup. (And whiteness)
It’s of course been known for a while that cameras and sensors are designed for people without melanin in their skin but even as people have become more sensitized and concerned about that the practices of what counts as good lighting or even how to light remain
Moonlight.
The top: the raw image
The bottom: after someone has carefully restored the color
The transition: from chalky lifeless characters to colorful, fleshy people.
How you handle color in photography isn’t just about lighting but after care
https://www.indiewire.com/2016/10/moonlight-cinematography-color-barry-jenkins-james-laxton-alex-bickel-1201740402/
The top: the raw image
The bottom: after someone has carefully restored the color
The transition: from chalky lifeless characters to colorful, fleshy people.
How you handle color in photography isn’t just about lighting but after care
https://www.indiewire.com/2016/10/moonlight-cinematography-color-barry-jenkins-james-laxton-alex-bickel-1201740402/
Thinking about this again today because someone told me they couldn’t see the difference between a photo of me where my t zone was turned whited out and one where my t zone was the color it actually is and it’s because everything we see trains us to normalize that imprint
