How to expose Beach sunset on Tmax P3200?

ericdan

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I only have Tmax P3200 with me and want to shoot today’s sunset on a tropical island beach.
With me I have a tripod, release cable and my M2 with a 35mm Summicron. Yellow, orange, red and 3stop ND filter.

can anyone help with exposure suggestions?
I usually shoot this film at 1600 and for the sake of keeping developing simple would like to keep it at 1600 today as well.

what should I meter for?
The sun will set right in front of me into the ocean horizon.

Thanks!
 

Nicholas Lindan

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B&W sunsets are, to me, a bit of a problem as in my mind sunsets are all about color.

Just the sun and the horizon aren't terribly interesting. I suggest including a lot of the shore line, exposing for the sea and shore and letting the sun do what it will. I can't see a filter helping a lot, maybe try a shot or two with a 25A red if you have the belly of the clouds lit up by a below-the-horizon sun.

An example from Point Lobos, California. Technical Pan, no filter, 16mm Nikon fish-eye. Sorry, it's a crappy scan of an RC work print - not anybody's idea of optimum.

 
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Pieter12

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I do think you'll need the ND filter to be able to tame the exposure given ISO 1600. An orange filter might help, depending on how much blue sky there is vs clouds.
 

Andrew O'Neill

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Pray for some clouds in that part of the sky. Metre the clouds between Sun and edge of finder, then bracket. Catch shots with the sun dipping below horizon until gone. Bracket!
 
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ericdan

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Shit it with 3 stop red filter and an ND 3 stop filter at EI 25. Sand and water metering came in at f/8 1/8th. Shot that up and down a stop with a release cable. I have half of the roll left and we have a super moonset tomorrow morning. That’s probably much more difficult but I’ll burn the roll anyhow.
Kind of got lucky with moon phase and weather here this time.
 

Pieter12

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Noon exposure is usually f/11 at 1/film speed--1 stop more than sunny 16.
 

Duceman

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ericdan said:
can anyone help with exposure suggestions?

what should I meter for?
Click to expand...

What is your intended subject?

I don't think it makes all that much difference what film speed you're shooting at; if you are using TMAX3200 at 1600ISO, then simply meter for that. But it really depends on your subject, I think.

I haven't taken too many shots of beach sunsets, and the only one I could find I was intending for the a ship close to the horizon to be silhouetted, so I just took an incident light metering from where I was standing. Shot turned out ok, and I did get the silhouette.



Sunset by D.R. DuFault, on Flickr

Vina del Mar, Chile. Mamiya 7ii, Kodak TMY-2, XTOL 1:1.
 
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ericdan

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Subject was really just the scene of the sun setting into the ocean. Had some nice clouds because of the changing weather. The full moon setting was even better. Lots of clouds around the moon as it disappeared into the ocean. Hope that somehow came out OK. Developing the film today.
 

Paul Howell

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When shooting 35mm with a full roll of film, bracket 1 normal, +1 1/2 - 1 1/2 that's 3 shots with Y, O and R, that 9 for the sunset, and nine for the moonrise total of 18 frames.
 

CMoore

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That look very nice.
Where was the dome of your meter pointing for that shot.?
 

Duceman

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CMoore said:
That look very nice.
Where was the dome of your meter pointing for that shot.?
Click to expand...

IIRC, I just held the meter vertically, with the dome facing the direction of the shot, towards the horizon.
 
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ericdan

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Tmax P3200 was a little grainy for this after all but that’s what I had with me and I wanted to use up the rest of this film anyhow. Exposed it at 800-1600, red filter and 2-3 second exposures. Developed in Xtol 1:1.
Split grade printing seems to work. The negatives are printable. I just need to do it again and dodge the water up to the horizon. Will post a print soon. Thanks for all the tips.
 
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