I received an inquiry and will share the question and the response at the board.
The question was about how to properly expose for skin tones with a digital camera when the subjects are back lit (ie. the bright sun comes from behind behind them).
Every situation is different so it's hard to give one "correct" answer. There are several ways to approach this:
1- Expose by the face by using Spot metering or Face Detection mode. If appropriate, zoom in as close as possible on the face. The could eliminate what could very well be a washed out sky.
2- If you want to get more of the scene including the sky and not have the faces look dark due to backlighting, use fill flash.
http://www.digicamhelp.com/taking-photos/lighting-techniques/fill-flash.phpRelated reading
Face detection:
http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-features/shooting-modes/face-detection.phpSpot metering and other metering modes:
http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-features/camera-modes/metering.php
