john_horvath1 Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 <p>So I've been shooting with a Nikon F4 using ISO 400 film for the past few months and I have recurring problem with my pictures: in broad daylight following sunny 16 rules some surfaces (like people's skin or the brighter ones) always appear to be whiter than they are. Even in situation when I definitely don't overexpose (at f 5.6 1/4000). How do I compensate for this? What kind of filter do I have to use to get that nice yellowish/brownish hue that most professional photographers have on their daylight pics? I use AF Nikkor 1.1:8 50 mm lenses.<br> Also: in what daylight situation is it necessary to use filters and in what not?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_derickson Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 <p>What kind of film? Slide or negative? Are you looking at prints or scanned images?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bebu_lamar Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 <p>Fix you photo finisher. If you follow the sunny 16 rule (of course there is a chance of under exposure) it's hard to over expose and thus your pictures should never be too light unless print or scanned incorrectly. </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Helmke Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 <p>Using Sunny 16 correctly as I assume you are doing it should not be a camera issue. Try using 100 or 200 speed in bright sun. 400 speed film will give you a higher contrast generally than slower films. Are you shooting B&W? Could also be a processing issue. Lots of variables, a little more info would help.<br> <br />Rick H.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCL Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 <p>Daylight use of filters: If color film - you might benefit from a skylight filter to tone down the blueness in haze; a graduated neutral density filter can be useful for some landscape work, a polarizer to reduce glare, and lastly (from my perspective) a neutral density filter to allow the use of wider apertures on faster films in daylight; for B&W - I often use a yellow (K2) filter to reduce haze or slightly enhance clouds, for more dramatic skies a red filter, people portraits, depending on the film, I sometimes use a green filter.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig_shearman1 Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 400 is not the problem. Has been my standard film for 40 years both color and black and white. Sounds more like scanning and printing problem. Issue could be lighting -- harsh midday sun can burn out highlights even with overall correct exposure. Bracket your exposures but better yet move into the shade or use fill flash or a reflector. Show us some samples and we can give better advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bebu_lamar Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 <p>I would be very surprised if you have the problem with slide film so I assume you're talking about negative film. If you set the camera for sunny 16 you won't get any overexposure pictures. It must be in the scanning and printing.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wouter Willemse Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 <p>Have you tried shooting a series at different apertures? I wouldn't fully exclude a camera issue - the highest shutterspeeds could be off or unreliable, the aperture mechanism of the lens might have hickups - would all lead to overexposure.<br> Sunny 16 is the right place to start, but also with a bit of consideration. Some parts of the world, the sun can get immensely bright (and harsh), so it will also help to understand where you are located, and around what time you are shooting. If I go out here (Sicily) around noon, sunny 16 won't do it, and I am seriously better off with f/22 instead. At the same time, that light tends to be so harsh that it isn't pleasant anyway - it makes everything look pale white, with colour photography far from ideal.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bebu_lamar Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 <p>For color negative film the brightest situation is 1 stop over like you said. Still should give excellent exposure if not better. It has to do with the lab.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_horvath1 Posted July 4, 2015 Author Share Posted July 4, 2015 <p>Thanks again for all the elaborate responses everyone. I shoot Portra 400 film and then scan it with a friend's Epson scanner. What I gather from all of your responses is that it's definitely not a filter issue, but rather a scanning issue. As a newby I have no experience with scanning and color correction, which might be the reason. Maybe these two close crops might give you an idea what I'm talking about:<br> <a href="http://imgur.com/oX782fT,6JHZTsz#0">http://imgur.com/oX782fT,6JHZTsz#0</a><br> <a href="http://imgur.com/oX782fT,6JHZTsz#1">http://imgur.com/oX782fT,6JHZTsz#1</a><br> What's a good way to learn about color correction after scanning? Also: what's a good software to use?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bebu_lamar Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 <p>Color balance seems OK just re-scan it a lot darker. The scanner should have an exposure compensation setting in its software. Once you have the density right then fine tune the color balance again. Again do all this with the scanner don't rely on fixing it after scanning.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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