Hi Bob, Shooting with B&W negative allows for a great deal of flexibility. In contrasty situations you can shoot "over" and then hold back on development. With that new spot meter of yours, you can easily measure the contrast range of the scene, and then expose and develop accordingly.
For example, say you're shooting TX @ 400 in the early or later hours, or on overcast days. Then comes the sun, and you know you're gonna lose the shadows or blow out the highlights. So, shoot TX @ 200, or maybe even 160, and then cut back on development time an established percentage (20%? 25%? - whatever you've arrived at through testing). The resultant negs will print nicely and you'll have both shadow and highlight detail. IOW, as the old adage goes, expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights. There are some fringe benefits to this technique. If you are putting together a portfolio or working on an essay, using one emulsion means that all prints will have a similar look to them. And, shooting a 100 speed film @ an EI of 50 or even 25 allows shooting at those nice, wide apertures. Or using a 400 speed film @ an EI of 100 provides some wonderful flexibility. If I recall, Salgado does something like this, exposing TX at EIs between 160 or so and 800. Shooting back lit subjects is especially easy in this manner. Just expose for the face and hold back on development so the shy or background doesn't' burn out. No need for flash with B&W neg film, no need at all. > Bob Walkden wrote: > > In Africa I've usually shot on slide film (K64), at least in recent > years. The contrast is too great most of the time so my solution has > been never to shoot until my shadow is longer than my height, or the > weather is slightly overcast. In the highlands of Ethiopia it is > viciously contrasty and never overcast, so I only shoot when shadows > are very long indeed. I get up at about 5am and shoot from before > sunrise until about 8-9am, at which time I find some shade or do > something non-photographic until about 4pm, when I can start again, > then early to bed. This happens to fit in with the way people live > there anyway. > > If I absolutely have to shoot when the sun is high then I try to shoot > against the light (not always possible, it gets so high) because then > at least you get people's faces without the deep shadows. In this > situation I give up on the background. > > When I go back again I may consider shooting on Supra 100 because of > this problem with contrast. I might also/instead shoot in black & > white. Unfortunately it seems to be an irresolvable problem. People > have advised me to use fill flash, but I hate it. ISO 400 is surely > way too fast for outdoor shots most of the time - you'll be stuck with > very small apertures, or you'll have to use ND filters, which will > darken your viewfinder considerably. -- Shel Belinkoff mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~belinkoff/pow/enter_pow.html http://home.earthlink.net/~belinkoff/cameras/pentax_repair_shops.html - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
