Ok; will do. Now that I re-read the entire thread to find anything you wrote that might help the Op in that goal. Didn’t find much. Lots of noise, side-chatter, and bragging. Now bored and tired. Good night, dear.
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Ok; will do. Now that I re-read the entire thread to find anything you wrote that might help the Op in that goal. Didn’t find much. Lots of noise, side-chatter, and bragging. Now bored and tired. Good night, dear.Take a good nap, Brian, and then go out and buy a box Brownie, and "let Kodak do the rest". I personally learned metering with the first Honeywell Pentax model offered in this country, long before the K1, using an external meter and fussy Kodachrome, and almost never botched an exposure. There's simply no substitute for sheer familiarity with one's own equipment, as well as the lighting situations likely to be encountered. Trying to dumb it down below that fact doesn't help anyone. It's just like learning to ride a bicycle - a certain amount of scrapes and bruises are inevitable. That's the only way someone is going to learn to get from Point A to Point B efficiently. The "training wheels" gotta be removed sometime. I never had them to begin with.
Brian, I felt we had passed the point either carelessly or deliberately where we were trying to help the OP anyway ( British understatementOk; will do. Now that I re-read the entire thread to find anything you wrote that might help the Op in that goal. Didn’t find much. Lots of noise, side-chatter, and bragging. Now bored and tired. Good night, dear.
I found that fascinating!Brian, I felt we had passed the point either carelessly or deliberately where we were trying to help the OP anyway ( British understatement) so I thought I may as well pass on my observation in # 75
pentaxuser
Drew, I’ve seen plenty of Adams’ original prints up and down the west coast, and in particular many of the retrospectives around the time of the centennial anniversary of his birth (2002). And I’ve seen at least four “interpretations” of Moonrise printed by him—you aren’t telling me something new there. I don’t like black skies because, in my opinion, which I’m entitled to, they are excessive in effect. Sorry about that!Stereotyes, stereotypes, stereotypes. If someone recommends using a hammer to drive in an upholstery tack, does that mean a sledgehammer? And if someone doesn't want to be accused of being an "Ansel Wannabee", does that automatically make him an "Avendon Wannabee" using a white sheet background?
Heck, I use red filters all the time, and I don't get either black skies or blanked out shadows. That's what correct metering and exposure allows. Does anyone here understand the meaning of the term, "nuance". But if, for creative reasons, someone does in fact want pure black, is that a felony? Would you accuse Brett Weston of being an "Ansel clone"? Of course not.
And there's far more to filters than just clouds and skies. For example, this past week I've used a red filter to bring out the patterns of almond orchard blossoms (white or light pink) in differentiation from green foliage, which red darkens. And in the mountains, after a snowstorm, when the sky turns blue again, then all the micro-texture in the fresh snow has bluish micro-shadows, and a red or orange or yellow filter will variously bring that out better in a black and white image, versus a polarizer, which simply flattens and kills it all. Lots of uses; and one more reason to set aside the stereotypes.
And to Mike specifically - apparently you haven't seen much of AA's overall work. Actually, only a small percent of even his landscape images have blackened skies. Sometimes there was a strategic reason when he did that, like processing streaks on the original film, or even the silhouette of a mosquito inside his bellows, and landing on his film just prior to the exposure. If you look at his most famous Moonrise photo, earlier prints did not have a black sky, and were hell to retouch due to all the processing irregularities in the sky. That was symptomatic of old water bath processing technique, in an attempt to control the extreme contrast of the scene involved.
But given all the air pollution and jet contrail stuff now worldwide, it's hard to get a black sky with a filter anyway. Skies simply are not as blue as they once were, even at higher altitudes in the mountains. Only once in the last 30 years have I witnessed a sky as blue, up around 12,000 ft, reminiscent of what was almost routine in my youth growing up there.
+1Sigh… deep sigh.
Yes, it's an "interesting" thread. It's also a new moon tonight, maybe that's it?As a moderator, I would like to have an off-topic shovel.
OP, this is good advice. Don't worry too much, trust your eyes, trust your camera's meter, bracket one stop over, one stop under.
Has been performed a couple of times. Buried under offtopic.I just came to the last page here, foolishly thinking I'd find a summary maybe (how long could it take to tell the op to bracket their exposures on a roll of film and decide what works best for them?)
I thought everyone knew about the palm exposure method. It was mentioned in a few Kodak publications over the years and I think in the Horenstein book too. I mentioned it because the OP seems to need some basic, commonsense exposure advice and the palm method works well. I've used it and Kodak taught it too.I found that fascinating!
I might measure mine to see if there are differences between left and right hands. That knowledge might help advance the science, too! LOL.
As a moderator, I would like to have an off-topic shovel.
Something with a really wide blade/pan, that could scoop up bunches of off topic posts in one big scoop.
Is it fair to anyone that this thread be forced to close!?
You'd volunteer to be a moderator? I was a mod for a large newsgroup once. I'd prefer cleaning septic tanks to ever being a moderator again. Some people like the "power" but it's actually just a massive time sink.Hip boots, a muck rake and a good editing knife would fix the problem. Heck, as a one time gig I would do it without injecting my opinions. You know how to contact me.
In my previous life, the firm I practiced with had a client who did make his living cleaning septic tanks. He actually seemed to like it - few were interested in starting an argument with him!Y
You'd volunteer to be a moderator? I was a mod for a large newsgroup once. I'd prefer cleaning septic tanks to ever being a moderator again. Some people like the "power" but it's actually just a massive time sink.
I agree, I rarely use contrast filters, maybe a yellow now and then but anything more just screams "Ansel Adams Wannabe" with the brooding dark skies. Any photo where the filter draws attention to itself is a failure in my mind. I love much of AA's work but that early photo of his that he refers to as his seminal photo, the one of half dome with the almost black sky is awful to my eye. But many people love it! Whatever rings your bell.
You'd volunteer to be a moderator? I was a mod for a large newsgroup once. I'd prefer cleaning septic tanks to ever being a moderator again. Some people like the "power" but it's actually just a massive time sink.
flash... the OP disappeared, a while back methinks...
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