Having trouble with exposure and my meter

[snommisbor]

<p>I have a Crown Graphic with a 127 Ektar lens. Trying to shoot a sunset over a small lake on our ranch and I have tried to meter 2 different ways with no success. Both times shooting Velvia 50 4x5<br>

First I spot metered off the edge of the sun low about to set where you start to see the blue sky and then spot on a dark tree and took the average and shot. I don't remember the settings for that shot but it was blown where there should have been the nice orange colors where the film was clear. Last weekend I tried using the incident light reading. This is Sekonic 758DR and the sun was setting again and the reading was at F/16 for Velvia 50 to expose for 1 second and it again blew it out to clear film where the sun was supposed to be.<br>

Any tips on how you would shoot a sunset would be greatly appreciated. </p>

<p> </p>

[gregg_evans]

<p>If you're getting clear film then the negative isn't blown out, it's underexposed. Try exposing for the shadows and printing down.</p>

[randall ellis]

<blockquote>

<p>If you're getting clear film then the negative isn't blown out, it's underexposed. Try exposing for the shadows and printing down.</p>

</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://www.adorama.com/FJRVP50220.html?sid=1250284205540837&searchinfo=velvia">Velvia</a> is a transparency film</p>

<p>Rob,</p>

<p>Transparency films do not have, generally speaking, a wide latitude, so if you meter for the highlights the shadows will be dark without detail in this situation, and if you meter for the middle, the highlights may blow out and the shadows may still be too dark. In this situation you will have to find a good comprimise with this film, or switch to a color negative film, which will have more latitude.</p>

<p>I've never really worked with the range of light that you are talking about, but I would suggest that you spot meter most important area of the image, decide on how light or dark you want that area to be, set the shutter speed and aperture accordingly, and then let the rest of the scene fall where it will. It is unlikely that you will ever be able to get anything but total blown highlights where the sun is concerned as it is quite bright, so worry about the sky color where it is important to you and let the sun blow...</p>

<p>- Randy</p>

[chauncey_walden]

<p>With Velvia, I spot meter about a third of the way up between the horizon and straight up (or the equivalent distance to the side of the sun) and use that to get the good sunset color. Remember, the meter thinks it is seeing 18 percent gray so you could pick an area of the sky that you want to turn out with that tone. Just let the foreground fall where it will.</p>

[john_liberty]

<p>Randall is right I suspect. You are probably trying to capture a range of values that are too big for slide film. The usual way to go is to meter off the middle range of the sky and just have the horizon underexposed. It looks great like this anyway. If it were me I would bracket the shot w/ the metering in the middle range of the sky and then metered off the brighest part of the sky.</p>

<p>Or just shoot color negative film for this. It will make your life a lot simpler as it has a wider exposure latitude.</p>

[sergio_ortega7]

As Randall already stated.....with color transparency films, like Velvia, and when using a spot meter, always expose the highest value (the

lightest part of your subject) so it reproduces on the film with some texture, not completely "blown out" (totally clear film). Or, if you're into the

Zone System, simply place the highest value that you wish to reproduce with some texture at a Zone VII. Then just let all the other values in the scene fall where they will. Nothing looks worse with color

transparency film than a lot of blown out high values. One, or more, small areas of blown out high values. like multiple tiny point light sources,

or one large blown out area, like the sun low in the horizon, is usually acceptable if the rest of the high value areas are reproduced with some

texture. Overly-dense shadow areas (almost totally black areas on the film) are much more acceptable than too many blown out high values.

 

Other than that,....have you thought of using a two or three stop graduated neutral density filter? The situation you've described is the reason

most landscape photographers use these ND grads. They will allow your film to better reproduce the full rnage of values, from bright to dark.

[kjgriffin]

<p>I've had my best results with the simplest approach: meter the orange bands near the horizon as mid-grey and be done with it. This prevents these brilliant (to the eye) colors from being blown out and they show up on the transparency with nice saturation. As mentioned above, any slide film won't have much exposure latitude. This has given me some nice silhouettes, but I'd have to go earlier in the evening to get enough light for the foreground without blowing out the sunset. Good luck!</p><div></div>

[snommisbor]

<p>Sergio,</p>

<p>I have thought about a ND filter but my lens does not have a filter thread. I am looking to get another lens here soon, maybe even upgrade to a true view camera from the Crown Graphic.<br>

I also shot Velvia 50 on the same trip with my M6 TTL and a 35 Summicron and I just metered off the blue sky and those came out much better. Thanks for the advice everyone.</p>

[ivan_j._eberle1]

<p>You mention using a ~50-60 year old lens, is it possible that your shutter is sticking open? Have you had it cleaned and timed or done so yourself? (The 1s exposures can be particularly vulnerable to this with the clockwork escapements). If so, Velvia 50 has little margin for error with very narrow exposure latitude, and a very narrow dynamic range. You might try neg film instead, much more forgiving especially towards overexposure.<br>

If you're stuck on using Velvia 50, note that some folks manage to simply hold the ND Grad up in front of the lens if they have no filter thread or drawer.</p>

 

[bill_proud]

<p>Rob,<br>

I use Velvia 50 all the time but rate it at 40 since it is slow to pick up low level light.<br>

Most of my sunsets require a two to three stop split ND, I've read where others are using even higher than that split. <br>

You might check your meter accuracy during mid day light and see if you get sunny 16 or;<br>

Use a gray card. I usually take a reflected reading and a gray card reading just to see if something in the frame is throwing me off.</p>