Newbie needs advice on exposure for portraits

jaehoppa · Dec 19, 2016

Hi guys,
A new film shooter here.

I've only shot 5 rolls thru my Contax G2 and just got a Pentax 67ii with AE prism which I can't wait to test out.

With digital I can shoot and delete as many times as I want but with film I have to be darn perfect on each shot, which I think is a great thing.

I plan to take the P67ii on a trip to Asia (honeymoon) and don't have much time before to test it out so I'm looking for an easy formula to achieve pleasing exposure for portraits.

I'm thinking of rating the film 1-stop slower and using spot metering on the face of the subject.

Do you think this method will work? or would it result in overexposure?
I really like Jose Villa's style and I know he over exposes his shots quite a bit so I'm thinking my method will be ok.

I will be using Fuji 400h and Portra 400 mostly FYI.
I do have some frozen Fuji NPZ 800 220film. Would this film be too grainy for daytime portraits?

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks!

tezzasmall · Dec 19, 2016

Hi J,

my first thought is that on something as important as a honeymoon, take a camera (film or digital) that you have used before and feel very comfortable using. Important times such as this are not really the best time to start 'trying out' new equipment IMO. Others a bit braver might say different. Let's wait and see...

Terry S

jeffreyg · Dec 19, 2016

My wife and I will soon be celebrating our 54th wedding anniversary. My suggestion is to do less photography and more honeymooning. Congratulations

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

jaehoppa · Dec 19, 2016

Thanks guys for the quick replies.
I will be taking a mirrorless camera along with a Sony action cam and possibly a small P&S film camera (looking for a Minolta TC-1). Maybe I'm taking too much stuff? lol
I will be getting married in Korea and will be going to Japan and Vietnam for the honeymoon.
I know it's not the best time to test out a new MF film camera but I really like the look of medium format and would love to take some nice portrait shots with it while on the honeymoon.
Either way I'm going to take everything to Korea so while there I will see if I can handle all the load and then decide what to take on the trip.

markbarendt · Dec 19, 2016

With the films you list you'll do fine with a bit extra exposure.

I like Villa's work too. His printing style leans toward lots of detail from the darker areas in the scene and letting the highlights blow out. The grand majority of his work that I've seen is backlit, the people are lit instead by the sky behind the photographer. This is why there is such even lighting on his subjects. This is very different than shooting Rembrandt or Butterfly style.

Spot metering can work fine but if you're shooting with the hope of mimicking Villa, you're going to want to get close enough to your subject to avoid flare affecting your metering and generally not meter the background.

Shooting straight into the sun you might have the camera set at f4 and shutter at 1/250th

TSSPro · Dec 19, 2016

Smart phone app for an incident light meter. Check one out there are several that are free and get you close enough to have a very printable negative. For the older stuff I'd just overexpose and hope for the best. If you don't know how the film will react due to its age I would suggest overexposing by at least one stop. I haven't figured out how some of my own expired films will react under specific conditions or exposure, so it can be a bit of a craps shoot on your results. All the best and enjoy your trip!!

wiltw · Dec 19, 2016

Keep this film behavior in mind, to guide your choice of exposure:

You do not want to UNDERexpose color neg much...-1EV is tolerable but when color neg is undereposed its colors get 'muddy'; at -2EV it will noticeably suffer!
You can easily OVERexpose color neg and still get very satisfactory results.

I would routinely rate my ISO 400 color neg for wedding work at EI 125-160, so as to avoid #1. I would certain not deliberatly use EI 80-100, but I knew if I accidentally overexposed to that level, the resultant prints would not have noticeable suffered.

I found a smartphone app that exactly matches my Minolta Autometer Vf incident meter.
But I also know that its reflected light mode does NOT match any of my photographic reflected light meters!

I would trust an incident reading, but if the skin tone was noticably darker than the palm of your own hand, I would NOT trust a reflected light reading taken from the face of your subject! We know the average palm is about +1EV brighter than an 18% grey card.

TheRook · Dec 19, 2016

Whenever in doubt, bracket the exposure.
It's not something I'd do for large format, but certainly for 35mm and medium format photography.

macfred · Dec 20, 2016

Don't let it trouble you, as it is almost impossible to fail with those modern ISO400 color neg films ...

wiltw said:
...

You do not want to UNDERexpose color neg much...-1EV is tolerable but when color neg is undereposed its colors get 'muddy'; at -2EV it will noticeably suffer!

You can easily OVERexpose color neg and still get very satisfactory results ...

+ 1 !

MattKing · Dec 20, 2016

jaehoppa said:
With digital I can shoot and delete as many times as I want but with film I have to be darn perfect on each shot

This reveals a misunderstanding. Film is reasonably generous, and fairly forgiving. If you enter into use of film with such a high level of "fear", it will unnecessarily impinge on joy.
A demand for perfection is the enemy of spontaneity and inspiration, and through that actually the enemy of quality.
Film is relatively cheap.
Bring care and forethought to your film photography, but don't be afraid to waste a shot or three through trying things out.

Terry Breedlove · Dec 20, 2016

I over ex[ose my film by one stop and love the look. In a fluid environment when getting a good exposer is time critical I will simple pint my camera at the ground in front of the subject and use that reading for at shot. That of course works with my 35mm camera because it has a built in meter but with my Hasselblad I use a hand held meter. If time is not available for a quick measurement I shoot with the sunny 16 rule and it works really good with film. I almost always over expose one stop for people though in any case. Now having said all that. This shot I post here was exposed based on the ground below the welder but was shot at the rated film speed of 100 iso because I needed the quicker shutter speed for a steady shot. Pentax camera with Tmax 100 at 100.

obviouslygene · Dec 20, 2016

wiltw said:
..snip..
I found a smartphone app that exactly matches my Minolta Autometer Vf incident meter.
But I also know that its reflected light mode does NOT match any of my photographic reflected light meters!
..snip..

what is this app? pocket light meter?

JaZ99 · Dec 20, 2016

jaehoppa said:
Pentax 67ii with AE prism

That thing is spot on. Don't worry and enjoy your honeymoon.

This is not the portraiture, but an example how good AE prism is in tough lighting (shot on Provia 100F):

Meet the trinity by JaZ, on Flickr

Cholentpot · Dec 20, 2016

Aim for the shadows of the photo and get a reading. Recompose on subject and choose something in-between the darkest part of the composition and the subject. Film can handle a lot of over exposure.

wiltw · Dec 20, 2016

obviouslygene said:
what is this app? pocket light meter?

It is Lightmeter Free by David Quiles...but that alone is insufficient information ! It is highly unlikely that you have the same brand and model of Android phone as I do, and unless you do, you need to do your own testing to be sure your phone is accurate with the same app.

obviouslygene · Dec 20, 2016

Ah okay, I'm using an iphone 6 for now. Using pocket light meter, tried lightmeter free but it was slightly under. sorry for derailing the thread!

TheFlyingCamera · Dec 20, 2016

Take it from someone who travels with medium format film cameras regularly - just bring one system with you, or at the very least bring only cameras that use the same format of film. It is so easy to get distracted by gear choices that you miss not only photos but whole moments because you were fiddling around with which camera/lens/etc to use. Some of the best travel photos I've ever taken were done with a Rolleiflex that can't change lenses. Why's that, you ask? Because I was paying more attention to framing and composition and watching the action in the scene instead of digging around in my bag for the "right" lens.

alanrockwood · Dec 23, 2016

If you meter off the person's face (e.g. your bride's face) then one thing to consider is the skin tone(s) of the people you are photographing. If they have light caucasian skin and if you meter off that skin tone, then you should give a little more exposure than the indicated meter reading. Some people say +1 f-stop. If they have dark African skin then give a little less than the indicated meter reading. Some people say -1 f-stop. If you don't apply a correction as indicated above, and if you are metering off the skin, then the skin tone will come out in the middle gray range, which is probably not what you want.

If the skin tone is toward the middle, e.g. East Asian skin tones, you probably don't need to apply an exposure correction, or maybe just a little extra exposure.

Gerald C Koch · Dec 23, 2016

As to effective portraits it's all in the lighting. Read up on standard lighting techniques to get the best possible results. There are many good books available.

removed account4 · Dec 24, 2016

jaehoppa said:
Hi guys,
A new film shooter here.

I've only shot 5 rolls thru my Contax G2 and just got a Pentax 67ii with AE prism which I can't wait to test out.

With digital I can shoot and delete as many times as I want but with film I have to be darn perfect on each shot, which I think is a great thing.

I plan to take the P67ii on a trip to Asia (honeymoon) and don't have much time before to test it out so I'm looking for an easy formula to achieve pleasing exposure for portraits.

I'm thinking of rating the film 1-stop slower and using spot metering on the face of the subject.

Do you think this method will work? or would it result in overexposure?
I really like Jose Villa's style and I know he over exposes his shots quite a bit so I'm thinking my method will be ok.

I will be using Fuji 400h and Portra 400 mostly FYI.
I do have some frozen Fuji NPZ 800 220film. Would this film be too grainy for daytime portraits?

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks!

hi jaehoppa

my suggestion would be ditch the film cameras and digital you currently use and don't bring them on your honeymoon
get a simple point and shoot camera and use that. practice compositiona and lighting and pose and don't deal with
all the settings. if you can find a yashica t4, not the one wtih the date stamp, it is probably hte best or one of the best
p/s ever made, slide exposures, c41 b/w all perfectly exposed. i am sure other p/s cameras will do an equal job
couldn't agree more with

jeffreyg said:
My wife and I will soon be celebrating our 54th wedding anniversary. My suggestion is to do less photography and more honeymooning. Congratulations

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

a p/s camera will help you save the memories without the added stress of using a film camera.

congratulations, have a nice trip+honeymoon

chris77 · Dec 28, 2016

jnanian said:
hi jaehoppa

my suggestion would be ditch the film cameras and digital you currently use and don't bring them on your honeymoon
get a simple point and shoot camera and use that. practice compositiona and lighting and pose and don't deal with
all the settings. if you can find a yashica t4, not the one wtih the date stamp, it is probably hte best or one of the best
p/s ever made, slide exposures, c41 b/w all perfectly exposed. i am sure other p/s cameras will do an equal job
couldn't agree more with

a p/s camera will help you save the memories without the added stress of using a film camera.

congratulations, have a nice trip+honeymoon

+1

Arklatexian · Dec 28, 2016

jeffreyg said:
My wife and I will soon be celebrating our 54th wedding anniversary. My suggestion is to do less photography and more honeymooning. Congratulations

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

My wife and I have already celebrated our 51st anniversary and I/we agree with everything said above though we did shoot a couple of rolls (36 exp) of Agfachrome CT18 which we still look at.........Regards!

Newbie needs advice on exposure for portraits

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