EV value for gas welding

I have some AGFA Rollei film loaded into my camera at the moment. It's winter here in Ottawa so I'm finding fun uses for it inside and in the city. A friend and I do gas welding from time to time (oxy/acetylene) I was wondering if anyone could hazard a guess as to what's the EV value I should be shooting for taking portrait(ish) photos someone welding with this film, with a R72 filter. I'll probably just wing it, bracket, and see what I get - the torch is such a bright point! The welding shades used for gas welding are shade #4 or #5.

The only help I've seen online is this, which doesn't exactly solve my problem but is useful. I think this means (according to the first reply's math) shade 5 goggles drop exposure 5.6 stops. Which... still doesn't really help me directly.
http://photo.stackexchange.com/ques...-translate-to-stops-when-used-as-an-nd-filter

I think I'll probably try 1/1000 of a second with f5.6, f8, f16 and f22, curious if there are any other people here with experience with this kind of experimenting.

Meter off the reflection of the light off the face shield ... Be careful not to look at the welding through the camera lens...

That's how I've done it in the past


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+1

I do lot of welding and have taught welding for years. Gas welding does not produce UV. The only light it emits is infrared, AKA heat. It might make bright spots in your eyes for a few minutes like getting flash bulbed but unlike any sort of arc or electrical welding it wont permanently damage your eyes unless your physically burn them.

If you want to make yourself more comfortable, use a shade 3 for observing gas welding and you'll be able to see around you and have on eye protection at the same time.

Try that with arc welding and you'll need a cornea replacement.

I do oxy welding myself, as well as arc, I don’t really see too much benefit from using an infrared film for oxy welding, as mentioned it doesn’t emit UV light, you only feel the heat rising from it, as I’m sure you are aware.

When photographing people welding with oxy, I have on one occasion actually used floodlights to fill in the welder and what he was welding. The idea was to get the metal being welded in a manner that the flame was registered on the film, within reason that is.

Then get the welder and most of the other part of what is being welded to be about 2½ stops darker. The welder will still be on the film, but will be suitably suppressed image wise and that to me, is a good way of getting something that looks like it is in real life.

If possible, get the welder to be at the stage where you are getting the sparklers coming off the weld, then shoot for all you’re worth. If you don’t understand about the sparklers coming off the steel when doing an oxy/acetylene weld, ask the welder, he/she will know what I’m talking about.

The actual white part of the gas flame doing the weld will blow out in B&W pretty much, but you should be able to get the red hot metal recorded, as well as the red part of the flame, not sure about the blue part of the flame though, cannot remember, the white hot part blows out, but it looks like that anyway. You should also be able to get good reflections from the goggles, more so if they are gold coated goggles. I have gold coated gas goggles, they do make a difference in B&W pictures, as well as colour ones.

Trust me when I say, shoot behind a sheet of glass, or something like that, keep your camera covered, white hot pieces of metal completely stuff many things, some modern cameras, literally melt. Wear thin leather gloves (summer motorcycle gloves are pretty good, long sleeves, even if you don’t wear long sleeves for oxy welding, do so for photographing, don’t ask why I suggest this!

Wear welding goggles, as mentioned.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Mick.

Have your welder friend start welding and meter off his face/head area, as that's where you'll probably want the interest. Or just wing it and bracket. One roll will tell the tale, but that film isn't cheap, so I understand wanting to get it right (wonderful film though). trythis is correct, gas welding is not a big safety issue other than the normal fire hazard associated w/ it, while arc welding sure is! Old welder = half blind w/ a bad cough & lung problems. Seen it too many times.

Mick Fagan said:

Trust me when I say, shoot behind a sheet of glass, or something like that, keep your camera covered, white hot pieces of metal completely stuff many things, some modern cameras, literally melt. Wear thin leather gloves (summer motorcycle gloves are pretty good, long sleeves, even if you don’t wear long sleeves for oxy welding, do so for photographing, don’t ask why I suggest this!

Click to expand...

I like the thin leather gauntlets used by many TIG welders. As for shirts, I would add a warning - Don't wear nylon or polyester, go for heavy cotton and turn the collar up. Also worth wearing a baseball cap, yob style with the peak covering the back of the neck.

Thanks for all the safety reminders, definitely appreciated. When I took an O/A course at college the first lecture instilled welding safety in me!

I have seen sparks while gas welding. Thanks for all the great tips, this is great! I think I'll try some shots with a red filter, on second thought the R72 will probably be too dark for O/A.

I'll post my results here when I get the roll developed.

Mick is correct, there isn't any danger of UV radiation from oxy/gas welding. Electric process welding is quite another story, even still, looking at an arc through a camera lens won't make you go blind either, though it will make you squint something fierce.Meter off the subject face and maybe add one stop exposure for insurance.

This wont be my first time photographing gas welding, though first time with film. I like the suggestion of using a flash to illuminate the welder!

bobbotron said:

I have some AGFA Rollei film loaded into my camera at the moment. It's winter here in Ottawa so I'm finding fun uses for it inside and in the city. A friend and I do gas welding from time to time (oxy/acetylene) I was wondering if anyone could hazard a guess as to what's the EV value I should be shooting for taking portrait(ish) photos someone welding with this film, with a R72 filter. I'll probably just wing it, bracket, and see what I get - the torch is such a bright point! The welding shades used for gas welding are shade #4 or #5.

The only help I've seen online is this, which doesn't exactly solve my problem but is useful. I think this means (according to the first reply's math) shade 5 goggles drop exposure 5.6 stops. Which... still doesn't really help me directly.
http://photo.stackexchange.com/ques...-translate-to-stops-when-used-as-an-nd-filter

I think I'll probably try 1/1000 of a second with f5.6, f8, f16 and f22, curious if there are any other people here with experience with this kind of experimenting.

Click to expand...

all good exposures start as 1/60s @f/8. everything elae are just modifications of that base settingbracketing sounds like a good idea.Also, if yoy have a good digital DSLR, use that exposure suggestion as a starting point.

Your welding buddy there with the pink particulate filters is keeping dust out but breathing metal vapor just fine.

That's me actually. I realize it's not perfect, but I do this quite infrequently and we get good airflow to the work zone.

Funny, when I took the welding course, I was the only one there with any kind of mask out of a class of 25. First class I forgot it, was blowing charcoal out of my nose that night.

I do look forward to the day I can set up this stuff at my cabin with a proper fume extractor...

You can get welding inserts. Sorry I know...way off topic for photography.