johnmarkpainter

<<As for Kodak films, they seem so standard/boring to me. Perhaps that's because it's what everyone used in my high

school photo classes. I like films that are unusual. Then again, if a Kodak will get me the best shot, I'll go with

Kodak...>>

That's just silly...

There are no boring films....just boring PHOTOS :)

For lighting, see if you can get a hold of some translucent white shower curtains.

You can hang them and shoot the light through them. Will get you more light than reflecting (if you need it).

DON'T PUT THE LIGHTS TOO CLOSE TO ANY MATERIAL. You will start a fire.

jmp

Bummer....

Things I have heard:

Put the lens in the sun to kill the growth.

The Fungus can spread to other gear stored in your bag (don't know if it is true...)

Mike,

Solved but also pay attention to QG's suggestion.

You have to keep the shutter release button pressed during exposures to keep the curtains open!

It took me a while to figure out that one...

I was starting to think I was crazy until Joseph's post....I KNEW I had printed Glossy on my 2200.

Didn't like it and have used Matte ever since.

jmp

David,

Thanks for posting this thread....regardless of the Crop/Sharpening, the images aren't even close to comparable.

This is exactly what I have found.

I compared my Epson 4870, Coolscan V and a Coolscan 8000.

FOCUS is the main issue with the Epsons. Even with the focus properly compensated, the image is still soft.

The Coolscan V had an edgy look and consistently overexposed.

The 8000 stayed on the conservative side of the exposure with maximum detail.

The lenses are great but I hate shooting with them.

The view looks like Robocop

I just saw a photo on my refrigerator that I had forgotten....

Some friends of mine that are very fair skinned caucasians adopted a girl from Africa and wanted me to shoot a

Christmas Card photo for them. They had tried to take a few on their own and were really concerned about getting her to

show up in the same frame with them.

I used a small Gold reflector positioned closest to her and used it to pop highlights onto her facial features and it worked

perfectly.

What you DON'T want is to meter off of Dark skin and make it come out 50% gray!

Let dark tones and shadows be dark...but have the detail that you are after.

jmp

I prefer a range finder Speed Graphic or an SLR Super D.

jmp

"M" sync is for Bulb flash, while "X" is for Electronic FLash.

If you shoot in M sync, your image will probably be black.

jmp

Bill,

My "so what" sounded harsh...no meant that way.

The original post is about how to meter in tricky lighting.

Had you posted a photo of Wes Montgomery playing with Edgar Winter.... :)

We (including you and Kelly) are almost saying the same things....

There are only a couple of knobs to twiddle.

Capturing the best moment from the best possible angle is the hard part.

If you can't fit the range in, You either expose for the shadows and let the highlights fall where they may or you meter for

the highlights and let the shadows fall there they may. Depends upon your medium and what you can do in post.

I'm NOT a great photographer but I rarely have a bad exposure. Metering and interpreting light is easy.

Just takes practice.

I just have lots of photos taken at the wrong moment or from the wrong angle....or wrong medium etc...

Now to the Off Topic portion of this thread:

Some people have to capture a photo when it is happening.

Some people can wait for it to be what they want.

I think it was Ralph Gibson that I read an interview where he was discussing that.

He was saying that he isn't that type of Photographer that would go and photograph an event.

He makes his own events and shoots them when he wants. If he misses a shot, it doesn't matter.

jmp

Bill....

So what? That is a nice snap of the right guy and that makes it interesting.

Kelly's point is that people look at great photos and want to know how the camera was set, how it was metered, what

kind of film etc..

That doesn't teach you how to recognize magic lighting, the best angles etc...

If you look at some of the great Docu-photogs, they are quickly and decisively capturing the moment AND making it

beautiful through technique.

I always bring up W Eugene Smith. He shot under terrible conditions....used Fill Flash and available light amazingly

well...He also processed all his own film controlling the contrast and then did all of his printing and bleaching.

I was just looking at an online Gallery of PF Bentley

http://www.pfpix.com/HOME.html

Studying pics from guys like that are a great way to learn

Steve,

See if you can find a clean Plaubel Makina 6x7.

It is a folding camera (non-interchangeable lens) and has more Lens Mojo than the Fuji's or Mamiya (which I have used a

lot).

It is also much more compact than the Mamiya 7 and of course the Fuji's.

I sadly sold my Plaubel as I really want cameras that can close-focus (none of the Rangefinders really do).

The photos I took with it sat very well with my Rollei, Hassy and Leica shots.

Somak,

Usually, whatever white content there is in the frame will knock the exposure down

jmp

Just get a 5 roll tank.

I ran 10 rolls after dinner tonight.

Doesn't take that long

jmp

Luck of the draw with Epson film scanning.

Your focus might be perfect but probably not.

I have a 4870...I finally got a Nikon 8000.

First scan I did was kind of an "Oh...I get it now" moment.

jmp

Ahh....

Then you'll LOVE this:

http://www.photo.net/photo/8133572

4x5 handheld f5.6 @ 1/25th

Matt is right...I have an old foggy shot posted as well:

http://www.photo.net/photo/3901873

I was out for a morning walk and luckily had my camera

I would use incident metering.

Try to position the shot so that there were visible highlights on the black horse.

Open up an extra stop to make sure there was enough detail captured...

Then I would use a higher dilution in my developer to compress the highlights (compensating) to make sure the detail

remained in the white horse.

THEN...Dodging/Burning and Bleaching to fit all the information in one print.

If you are lucky, the black horse will have SOME highlights that will help it to have some detail.

Then, hopefully the White horse would have some Shadows to give it some detail.