Exposure for stained glass windows

[schnellimages]

I am having some frustration with properly exposing for some stained glass

windows for a local church.

They asked me to shoot some glass in the new church, but it had to be 4x5 film

for printing purposes. So I reluctantly put away my 1D Mk II and borrowed a

friend's 4x5. The first piece was very large (about 7 feet across) and almost

at floor level. I used my digital camera's meter and brackated about 2 stops

each way. The results were great, and the church asked me to shoot the

remaining 6 pieces - which is where I am having problems.

 

These windows are smaller - about 4' across - and are elevated, so that I

cannot get as close as I would like. The window takes up about 2/3 of the

frame. The problem is that I am underexposing the images by more 2 stops, at a

guess. I have not done large format work in more than 15 years, and have not

shot film to any degree in more than 4 years. I know this may seem basic, but

I have gone back twice now and am running into the same problem. There is no

real time limit as far as the client is concerned, but I would like to wrap

things up pretty quickly, obviously.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[hakon_soreide]

Are you forgetting to compensate exposure for the bellows extension and/or reciprocity law failure? Since the pieces are smaller, I will assume that you might be closer and therefore have a longer bellows extension than on the big piece.

[peter_mounier]

Bellows extension shouldn't enter into the equation unless you're shooting at 1:1 size ratio,

ie: 4"x5" size window.

I don't know what you're doing wrong, maybe you're metering on a very bright piece of

glass. But shooting a piece of polaroid film would be a good idea. Ask your friend, who you

borrowed the camera from if he has a polaroid film holder, and take away the guess work.

 

Peter

[stephenwood]

Bellows extension enters into the equation at about 1/3 stop for each inch of bellows longer than infinity. Long before 1:1 size ratio.

[schnellimages]

Polaroid back! I am an idiot!

Thanks Peter, I will give my friend a call.

 

Bob