Tricky conditions without bracketing

Hi peeps.

I'm trying to learn how to meter and expose in difficult situations. That is, without bracketing like there's no tomorrow and no end on the roll.
Since there will probably be a tomorrow and there sure as hell is and end on the roll, I'm turning to you for advice.

I have a Minolta incident meter and an old Sekonic reflected light meter (I dare not testify on its accuracy as I rarely use it). I use a Bronica ETR and I'm a fan of slide film, but I'm on a tight budget and I feel like I'm wasting beautiful film if I have 3 or 5 frames with the same subject with different exposure. After all, with 6x4.5 on 120-film there's only 15 frames to spare!

What I feel is "difficult" may be natural to you so bear with me.
Sunsets and sunrises for example. Is there some sort of rule of thumb for getting the sky gradients right depending on how high up the sun is, or is there some super nifty way of metering? Perhaps it's all trial and error?

Subjects in shade is another thing.
I've heard different things about it but of course shades come in an endless variety. Though I can imagine there should be some decent rules of thumb for this, like how much to compensate if the shade is from a tree, a house ect.

When I get around to taking pictures (I haven't for a long while) I'll try and keep a record on what I've shot and how I exposed, and then later compare my notes with the developed film to figure out what the correct exposure would have been.

Until then, a little push in the right direction or tips in general would be nice

If you do bracket a sunset, you'll often find that an extraordinary range of exposures -- three stops or more - are all acceptable, but with different moods. Which mood you prefer is up to you, so yes, there's a good bit of trial and error there. Hold a reflected light meter more-or-less level, favouring the sky slightly, i.e. pointed slightly up; take one exposure at the meter reading, then +/- 1 stop; and you'll be well set for next time.

There's an enormous difference between dappled shade (tree without solid foliage) and solid shade (house). Often, the brightness range in dappled shade is so great that a satisfactory exposure is difficult or even impossible: to get normal detail in the shaded mid-tones, you'll have to 'blow' the sunlit midtones, as they are normally at least 3 stops apart ('open' shade) and can easily hit 5 stops apart. These are not wild estimates: I've just checked them in my courtyard (open shade) and in my garden behind a flowering plum tree (dappled shade, high contrast range).

Cheers,

R. (www.rogerandfrances.com, where you might be interested in the free 'brightness range' module in the Photo School).

Photography is an art.
Art is subjective.
Ergo, there is no "correct" exposure. As Roger so eloquently pointed out, there may be a range of "acceptable" exposures for a particular scene, and each one may have its charms. The only way to know which you prefer is to shoot all three... or more.
The only way to "waste" film is to NOT get the one that represents the scene the way you want it to look. That's why, especially with transparency film, you bracket. It's not, as some people believe, a technique of "shoot a lot of frames, hoping that one of them turns out."

eddym said:

The only way to "waste" film is to NOT get the one that represents the scene the way you want it to look.

Click to expand...

I could not agree more.

Cheers,

R.

Ljusdahl said:

I'm a fan of slide film, ......

Click to expand...

If you choose to rely on bracketing, then, with slide film, you may want to start bracketing in 1/2 stop increments. Bracket around the most desired highlight area rather than a showdow. In slide film, the highlight area is the low density area and the shadows are the high density areas.

Chuck

Slide film and sunsets will probably mean backetting, narrow latitude film and the long dynamic range of the scene preclude anything else. Many people use a graduated neutral density filter - darker on the top of the filter, for the sun and the sky and clearer on the bottom for the land or water. You also might want to consider color negative film for sunset pictures.

That said, I find with a spot meter, you can point it toward the sun, but not at it, maybe 15 degrees away, and come up with a good base exposure.

The minolta incident meter is excellent, better for slide film than a camera's built in meter, but, as you know, doesn't work when a light source, e.g., sunsets, stained glass, is the source of the picture.

Hope this helps,
Take care,
Tom

This is a rather late reply, but I just wanted to say thanks for all the great answers!

I rarely bracket. I rely on spilit neutral density filters to moderate the various areas within the scene. I do this by spot metering an area of the sky that I want to have a medium tone. Then I will meter other areas of the scene to find out what kind of range I have. If I have more than 1 1/2 or 2 stops between the sky and the foreground, I may choose to use a split neutral density filter (or more than one) to balance everything out.