Along the stream.

[Xia_Ke]

I took these wanting to practice shooting in harsher lighting conditions. This stream is under thick tree canopy with only a few openings allowing sunlight through. I was trying to go by the theory of "expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights". Am I getting close? These were shot with Tri-X and my Nikkormat EL w/50mm f/2 lens. Right now I'm reliant on the camera's meter but, should have a better handheld meter within the next week or 2.

[GB1]

Aaron - Hmm.. interesting and different. The first I like better. It seems somewhat "surreal" to me, like the background trees are glowing or are radioactive. I think that's different alright.. might work well for a Halloween theme . But it seems the composition might be split into two there, sorta bothers me...

The second I could see working if the subject was more interesting. Not to sound strange here, but if a woman was skinny dipping or something, this type illumination of a particular area would work.

I think your idea of exposing for the shadows is valid. Keep doing it.

G

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks G These were shot more for practicing exposure in difficult situations. I really need to get myself a good spot meter. I was bummed about the first though. It was really cool as I envisioned it but, I couldn't get the exposure right. There was some real harsh sun hitting the tree branches. Trying different exposures I either got no reflection or the branches were blown out by the sun. Any ideas or recommendations on how to handle a situation like this? Maybe a CPL?

[GB1]

No definitive suggestions... Maybe a graduated ND filter to tone it down up there?

Aaron how bout filling me in on something that I've been wondering about: how can one apply a handheld spot meter to an area that you can't first get to? I really don't understand it can... I have a handheld and I use it for studio lighting work by placing in on the subject, firing the flashes, then checking the meter for the correct camera SS and aperture. I have no idea how you're to use one for distant subjects - mountains, etc.

G

[Xia_Ke]

Hi GB1, somebody else might be better to explain this as most of what I know is just from lots of reading and playing with different metering options on the D50. Somebody PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong...

Basically there are 4 types of meters; Flash meters which is what you have been using, Incident meters which are used similar to to flash meters (placed on the subject, pointed towards the camera but, reads ambient light as opposed to flash exposure), Reflective meter which are point at the desired subject and read the light that is reflected back towards the camera, and Spot meters which are the same as reflective meters but have a very small range of view, say 1 to 5 degrees depending on the meter. Reflective/Spot meters are essentially what are built into your cameras (if your camera has a meter). Your camera measures reflected light from the subject that is coming back to the camera/meter.

To give reference to this particular shot, the camera that I was using uses centerweight metering. Think of it for this camera as having 2 overlapping circles for the metering field. Each circle represents a separate reading and the 2 are averaged to give your meter reading. Now since there was so much shadow in this shot, I couldn't get an accurate reading off of the sunlit tree branches. With a spot meter, that would give a reading on a lot narrower field of view, I could have gotten a reading off of the branches to be able to better calculate my exposure.

I hope this makes sense and is correct. Please feel free anyone to add to this or make corrections.

Aaron