Okay, bear with the back story here.
I've started using and I'm beginning to understand my Beseler PM2L meter.
I got some of Adorama's fiber VC paper and tested it and got the exposure number for the meter nailed to get black.
It works great just measure contrast, set the filter pack, measure exposure for paper black with detail and bam, very, very, very reasonable 11x14's without so much as a single test strip.
UNLESS.... there's no good black or white in the scene. (Think open shade.)
This is where I started putting 2&2 together with regard to film exposure and EI and printing. (This is also where the really smart guys and gals start giggling.)
Me thinks to myself, as I'm moving the sensor and film around to find black, if "base + fog" on film was usable to get me my black reference point I wouldn't need a good black in the shot. The space between frames could could get me what I needed every time. And so I ask myself, how the heck am I going to place exposure to get that with an incident meter.
The simplicity of the answer hit me when I finally realize that I've actually known for a long time.
The meter reading before the shot does have a very specific relationship to film base + fog; that's where the toe sits and the bottom of the toe prints black, Duh.
My mind hadn't really hooked metering for the camera to printing on paper.
The new thought, that I can use the base as a natural reference point to make printing easier by making contrast easier to read and exposure easier to set is way cool.
Gives me a new understanding of the carry though of the choices we make.
I've started using and I'm beginning to understand my Beseler PM2L meter.
I got some of Adorama's fiber VC paper and tested it and got the exposure number for the meter nailed to get black.
It works great just measure contrast, set the filter pack, measure exposure for paper black with detail and bam, very, very, very reasonable 11x14's without so much as a single test strip.
UNLESS.... there's no good black or white in the scene. (Think open shade.)
This is where I started putting 2&2 together with regard to film exposure and EI and printing. (This is also where the really smart guys and gals start giggling.)
Me thinks to myself, as I'm moving the sensor and film around to find black, if "base + fog" on film was usable to get me my black reference point I wouldn't need a good black in the shot. The space between frames could could get me what I needed every time. And so I ask myself, how the heck am I going to place exposure to get that with an incident meter.
The simplicity of the answer hit me when I finally realize that I've actually known for a long time.
The meter reading before the shot does have a very specific relationship to film base + fog; that's where the toe sits and the bottom of the toe prints black, Duh.
My mind hadn't really hooked metering for the camera to printing on paper.
The new thought, that I can use the base as a natural reference point to make printing easier by making contrast easier to read and exposure easier to set is way cool.
Gives me a new understanding of the carry though of the choices we make.
