Exposing under bright conditions

[tom muddimer]

When in Greece this last Summer I struggled somewhat with getting a good

exposure. The bright white walls tended to confuse the light meter (matrix) on

my Nikon FA. As a general rule of thumb, how many stops should you overexpose

by in such conditions when you don't have a spot meter or a means to attain an

EV for one area? I imagine it's just by the one stop, but I'm just petrified of

having a load of underexposed shots with middle grey walls! Could someone

enlighten my on the situation?

[samuel_dilworth]

If shooting in those conditions in direct sunlight, just use the old rule of thumb: f/16 and the reciprocal of the film ISO for shutter speed (e.g. 1/250 for ISO 200 film). (Of course you can move up and down the f-stop range by adjusting shutter speed accordingly.) With slide film you might want to reduce exposure by half a stop to retain detail in the white walls. In very bright conditions I like to use a film capable of capturing a decent dynamic range, to make the shadows more penetrable: Ektachrome E200 is particularly good for slide film (Astia isn't bad either), while on the negative side pretty much anything will do fine if you give it generous exposure (at least a stop more than the rated speed).

[jay ott]

Meter off your hand and open up a 1/2 stop. Metering other midtones like a sidewalk or grass in the same light will also keep the wall white.

[roger_smith4]

"Meter off your hand and open up a 1/2 stop."

Well, you might want to test your hand against a grey card. My hand is 1.5 stops above middle grey. For slides I meter off the hand and set exposure compensation to +1 if there are highlights I need to preserve.

[craig_shearman1]

Be sure to meter off the back of your hand, not the palm, to get close to what a gray card would indicate. This assumes you are caucasion. Darker skin will give different readings.

[plasma181]

Another trick I have read about is used in snow. Meter off a clear blue sky.

[larrydressler]

Another Trick

 

Spot Meter....

 

Larry

[James G. Dainis]

True. A clear northern sky approximates that of a gray card. When you get you photos back, check the negatives. The lab may "correct" for all that white and you get gray walls in the prints even if your exposure was dead on and the negatives perfect.

[spanky]

I've always used incident readings and adjusted my developement to keep the highlights in check. It took me awhile to figure this out but it works out for me. PS - I live in LA and do a lot of shooting in bright afternoon sun.

[scott friedberg]

When you don't have a decent working spot meter or incident light meter at hand, use the sunny f16 rule as others have suggested. Also use a negative film.