Hi Bob,
Thanks for taking the time to post that very clear note on what might have
gone wrong with my shots:
Perhaps I wasn't as clear as I should have been:
I did base my exposures for the shadows and the lab printer has tried squeeze
out some detail in the highlights by overexposing the print- so now I have no
detail in either the highlights or the shadows :-(
However, I can see the negative has a lot of detail: I now plan to get the
negative scanned and then try and compress the contrast range in Photoshop-
comments?
I used Kodak Gold print film; the predominant tones in the scenery were around
75% blazing sunshine with the balance in fairly deep shadows (an open, thinly
wooded forest with hills in the distance). Contrast range : perhaps 4:1 or
more.
Do an early morning or late evening shoot? This is panther territory and is
about 6 hours drive from my place so I don't think that's an option.
Regards,
RK
Bob Walkden wrote:
> As far as advice to RK goes, well it depends. I've found sunny-16 to
> be quite reliable in the situations where you'd expect it to be
> reliable. ie, bright day with the sun behind me, and here in the UK
> there is a 3-stop difference between the highest and lowest reading,
> when the lowest reading is open shade. But if I wanted shadow detail
> I'd expose for the shadows or possibly use fill flash or a reflector
> if I had to include the sunlit highlights.
>
> Your exposures may have been wrong because the centre-weighting
> encompassed some very non-average elements, but I don't really see how
> it could have ruined both the highlights _and_ the shadows unless the
> brightness range of the scene far exceeded the latitude of your film.
> You'd need to tell us a bit more about the type of film you were using,
> what the predominant tones in the metering area were, and what the
> brightness range of the scene was.
>
> It's not usually a good time of day to be taking pictures. Any
> photographer worth his salt rests in some cool dark cantina with a
> glass of golden, foaming throat-charmer during the noonday hours. Why
> do they have to be done at that time of day? Why not wait until your
> shadow is longer than your height, or get up before sunrise?
>
> If you really must take pictures at noon, I'd recommend using an incident
> meter, measuring the light falling on the most important element
> of the scene, and basing your exposure around that.
>
-
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