Black Card Technique and metering

<p>Hullo</p>

<p>I have a Nikon D700<br>

The Black Card technique I have read is essentially allowing two different exposure times in one shot.<br>

I have read that one needs to meter for the ground and then meter for the sky.</p>

<p>I would be grateful if somebody could explain this to a novice. How do I take two exposures in one shot?</p>

<p>thank you</p>

<p>sue</p>

 

<p><em> </em><br>

<em>I understood that back card photography was simply using a black card in front of the lens to inhibit the exposure TIME of the sky. It is like ‘dodging’ in the darkroom.</em><br>

<em>For example, in a sunset scene, the foreground might need 10 seconds exposure, but the sky might need one second, so the black card is held in front of (half of) the lens for 9 seconds of the exposure time.</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

<em>WW </em></p>

<blockquote>

<p><em>.....I have read that one needs to meter for the ground and then meter for the sky.</em><br>

<em>I would be grateful if somebody could explain this to a novice. How do I take two exposures in one shot?</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>You can't. The concept you were mentioning is explained by William above. What you can do is take one shot metering for the sky and another metering for the ground and then blend the two together using post processing software. Alternatively the adjustment brush in Lightroom 4 (or above) allows you to make adjustments to just a selected area of the image. This means you can select the sky and then reduce the exposure of just that part of the image.<em><br /></em></p>

<p>As a "novice", as you describe yourself, I wonder if you already understand the D700's histogram and how to expose with ETTR. IOW, why are you interested in this less conventional Black Card technique?</p>

<blockquote>

<p>How do I take two exposures in one shot?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I'm pretty sure that the D700 has a multiple exposure mode, which allows you to take multiple shots in one frame. Each shot can be taken with different composition, exposure, focus, etc. etc. etc. All the shots would then be "combined" by the camera into one frame. For some, it can be an excellent creativity technique. Multiple exposure had been on some film bodies for ages, so it is nothing new.<br>

<br /> Multiple exposure in a dSLR is an interesting but seldom discussed topic.</p>

<p><em>I have read that one needs to meter for the ground and then meter for the sky.</em><br>

This doesn't mean you take two exposures on one frame but rather you use the camera's built in meter in a similar manner to how somebody would use a hand held meter by pointing the meter at the sky and remembering the reading and then pointing it at the ground and then detirmining an appropriate balance between the two readings and setting that in Manual mode.<br>

<em>The Black Card technique I have read is essentially allowing two different exposure times in one shot</em><br>

Never heard of this before and I found WW's explanation interesting ... one point from my fume room days ... it is usually desirable that you keep the dodger moving to avoid sharp edges, a reason with digital editing why I use a soft edged tool. I would suggest that it would be better to take two exposures and blend them in editing now we have digital and editing programmes.<br>

The use of the black card seems similar to 'capping a lens' when shooting fireworks to combine more than one burst on a single frame ... though I think this is a film technique not applicable for digital due to noise build-up with longer exposures with digital .... and anyway one has far more control over placement for balance when using an editor with layers to hold each frame shot and moving each independantly.<br>

I would suggest that multiple exposure is 'from the Ark' and really a film technique and digital gives us the tools to do it better, though I am aware that skilled film types did numerous sophisticated things in the past.</p>

<p>Hi Everyone thank you for your input.</p>

<p>The reason why I am interested at this time to possibly use this technique is that I am visiting Iceland in September and will be using a 14mm lens that is unable to take filters . As a result I am unable to use ND filters or grads. So I am looking for processes to achieve the best outcome as possible without these aids.<br>

I usually use Lightroom 5 as my editing program</p>

<p>I have tried once before to use Nikon D700 multi-exposure option. However, the results where not too good . The photo end up with people/objects in the photo sectioned off in all parts of the photo ( I am sure there is a better description).</p>

<p>If somebody can give me tips on how to use the multi exposure mode option option in Nikon D700 where the subject is not all over the place. I have googled for information on this and resulting information and have not come up with information that is helpful.</p>

<p>Robert I am very familar with using the histogram - The Nikon D700 is a very complex camera and there are so many ways to kill a cat - some are more user friendly than others.. I have a good photographic eye - but being in my late 70s find it hard sometimes to get my head around the more technical stuff and just need some mentoring to achieve the best outcome.</p>

<p>Sue, one of my Facebook contacts just visited Iceland this summer, and has visited there before a few times. She posted lots of photos. The sky often appeared a bit hazy so the light was just about perfect for the snow-covered scenes - diffused without being flat or dull. I sent her a message to find out whether she has any tips to get the best results. I'll post again later.</p>

<blockquote>

<p><em>The Black Card technique I have read is essentially allowing two different exposure times in one shot</em><br />Never heard of this before and I found WW's explanation interesting ... one point from my fume room days ... <strong><em>it is usually desirable that you keep the dodger moving to avoid sharp edges,</em></strong> a reason with digital editing why I use a soft edged tool.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Yes. Correct.</p>

<p>***</p>

<blockquote>

<p>The reason why I am interested at this time to possibly use this technique is that I am visiting Iceland in September and <strong><em>will be using a 14mm lens that is unable to take filters .</em></strong> As a result I am unable to use ND filters or grads.”</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I assume you have screw on lens filters.</p>

<p>Have you checked out the LEE Filter holders? In their new series they made a filter holder for the Nikon 14 -24 zoom.<br />In any case, there will be other matt boxes or specific filter holders <strong><em>designed for Medium Format</em></strong> cameras, which would allow an ND or Grad ND filters in front of a 135 format 14mm lens: for example the: <em><strong>Cokin X-Pro Filter Holder</strong></em>.</p>

<p>As a general comment -</p>

<p>Playing with a Black Card or Multiple Exposures would be much cheaper than investing in a new filter set - but yet HDRI would be more accurate:<br>

<br />What I mean is if you have the time to make bracketed exposures on site, then you have the luxury of time to make the final image when you get home - on the other hand - if you use a filter or "Black Card" then you have fewer Post Production options and each of those is limited by how efficiently (accurately) you pulled of the Filtration or Black Card dodging in that one shot.</p>

<p>WW</p>

<p>Sue, if you understand histogram, you are not a novice :-)</p>

<p>I agree with William's many suggestions.</p>

<p>When I use in camera multiple exposure, I tend to vary the composition/subject of each shot, with the INTENT that the elements in each shot will be all over the place in the final frame. Just like you see in your experiment: the camera won't fix that. Fixing them in post processing can be impossible or maddening.</p>

<p>I don't use in camera multiple exposure to fix exposure problems. It would be an easy experiment for you. Choose a static composition without any elements moving (e.g. landscape, still life), and set your camera on a tripod. In multiple exposure, expose for highlight for one shot and expose for shadows for the second shot. Vary only the shutter speed but not the f-stop to keep the dof unchanged. See what the result looks like. Experiment with more than two shots in multiple exposure and vary the exposures in finer increments. Since I use other methods to fix exposure, I have never tried this myself. So it may not work at all. Look into HDR, as William suggested.</p>

<p>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging</p>

<p>If there are moving elements in the HDR shots, masking will let you keep them where you want. But masking is yet another technique that requires some learning.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>The Nikon D700 is a very complex camera and there are so many ways to kill a cat - some are more user friendly than others.. I have a good photographic eye - but being in my late 70s find it hard sometimes to get my head around the more technical stuff and just need some mentoring to achieve the best outcome.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>These dSLRs are not user friendly, they are expert friendly. Learn what you need and don't chase technology. Let your good eye create great work and enjoy. At late 70s, you are still creating, learning and mobile. Just a youngster!</p>