Hand-held metering follow-up

[dillon_on_the_coast]

<p>Howdy folks,<br>

Following up on my thread before on meters, I finally made a decision and ordered a Sekonic L-558. I plan to use it for landscapes on a trip through Central & South America in a few weeks. My goals are 3-fold:</p>

<ol>

<li>attain the warm fuzzy feeling of getting exposures right on the first try</li>

<li>waste less film bracketing (as a prelude to acquiring some larger format gear)</li>

<li>get more confidence shooting complex scenes with complex exposures</li>

</ol>

<p>I'm using an A1 and an F1 (older? no hot shoe). I usually carry a Canon 24mm/2.8, 50mm/1.8, and 135mm/3.5 in my bag. I mostly shoot Efke 25/50, Fuji Acros 100, Provia 100, Provia 400, and sometimes 400H.</p>

<p>While I understand the basics, I've never relied on an incident meter before. I think I'll spend more time using the spot meter and trying to "place" parts of the scene within the range of my films (sort of zone-system-esque).</p>

<p>Since I am mostly self-taught (lots of trial & error) and am always finding gaps in my understanding ... we come to the point of this post.</p>

<p>What topics / techniques would you recommend I read / practice on? Any particularly good resources (online or on paper)? The only photo books I own are the A. Adams The Camera and The Negative.</p>

<p>- Dillon </p>

[dillon_on_the_coast]

<p>Almost forgot - here's a link to my scanned images on Flickr. A few were taken with an Olympus Epic p&s but most were shot on the gear I mentioned above.<br>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wideanglewandering/sets/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/wideanglewandering/sets/</a></p>

[mukul_dube]

<p>If you propose to "spend more time using the spot meter", I do not know what kind of resources you seek. Assuming you want to know what <em>incident light metering</em> is, you will find much on it if you put those three words into the search bar of Google.</p>

[dillon_on_the_coast]

<p>Yeah, I've got the search engine bit down, but thanks. </p>

<p>Sometimes it's nice to tap into the forum hive-mind to direct one to the good stuff - be it online, on paper, or right out of your own heads. If y'all got nothing then I'll just go back to figuring it out as I go. No worries.</p>

<p>And while I suspect I'll spend more time with the spot meter, I'm sure I'll use both, and have no experience with either (at least in hand-held form).</p>

[flatulent1]

<p>From your photostream I gather you've done a little traveling. The usual advice is to get to know your equipment before you have to rely on it. And that means read the meter's manual and practice, practice, practice.</p>

[dillon_on_the_coast]

<p>Yes indeed - photography and travel are my hobbies. <br>

Your comment goes right to the impetus for this post - I have a little time, but not a whole lot, to practice before I hit the road so I want to make the most of it.</p>

[sfcole]

<p>I know you've already ordered (and perhaps received) a 558. I own that meter and a 308. Personally, I would travel with the latter. The 558 is just too big to fit in any pocket</p>

[dirk_dom1]

<p>Hi!<br>

With a spot meter, using slide film, measure on the highlights and overexpose that value by two stops.<br>

Using Velvia slide film, measure on the highlights and overexpose that value one and a half stop.<br>

Using black and white neg film or color neg film, measure on the shadows and underexpose that value two stops.<br>

Dirk.</p>

[dillon_on_the_coast]

<p>Thanks for the rule of thumb. <br>

I'm guessing this is based on estimated dynamic range for the film? I haven't looked at (or learned how to understand) the film's datasheets but it's my understanding that provia has a drange of around 5 stops, velvia about 4, most B&W film is around 10-12 and good color negative film is around 8 stops.<br>

By your guidelines, I can see how overexposing the highlights by a couple stops would put them at the highest value that still contains detail but underexposing 2 stops on the negative film seems awfully conservative. Shouldn't good B&W film be good for up to ~4 stops underexposed from the value measured in the shadows?</p>

[dirk_dom1]

<p>Hi!<br>

I use these exposures myself with a Minolta spotmeter, which measures with an accuracy of 1/10th stop, and they yield very good results. Try it out!<br>

Velvia can't take two stops overexposure.<br>

The two stops underexposure of the shadows of B&W yields very good results, I learnt of this rule from a famous landscape photographer on the Net. My negatives, following this rule, are very good: they print well. To print the DR of the neg, you often have to burn or dodge your print, in photoshop or in the darkroom.<br>

If you underexpose color neg too much, you'll get very grainy and bad results. Underexposing the shadows two stops avoids this limit. In a scene with high dynamic range, it's better to overexpose color negs than to underexpose.<br>

Scenes with high dynamic range are near to impossible with slide film. If you are troubled by black shadows, shoot color negative in that case. <br>

In cases with high very dynamic range (like in a forest on a sunny day), if you do want to shoot slides, wait for an overcast day.<br>

I shoot a lot in forests and nature, an incident meter is completely useless for me. It's only good if you can walk up to your subject and measure the light there. An incident meter is useful where you can reach your subject, like in a studio.</p>

<p>Dirk. </p><div></div>

[dirk_dom1]

<p>a high dynamic range image with Velvia, overexposed 1 1/2 stop, measured on light on the leaf:<br>

The shadows in the forest turned completely black.</p><div></div>

[thomas_goehler]

<p>Dillon, when I look at your flickr-set I don't think you'll need any more advice from anybody here ...</p>

[dillon_on_the_coast]

<p>Thanks Dirk, for the explanation & the examples. </p>

<p>Thomas - that's quite a compliment, though I'm currently frustrated and looking for a "break through" improvement in my photos :)</p>

<p>I want to shoot medium format but I won't let myself until I've gotten better at nailing the exposures on cheaper 35mm.</p>