Exposure problem

[Vincent Sweeney]

But If my subject is a rather dark object with some texture to it, then wouldn't it come out overexposed if I use the reading straight off the meter? Shouldn't the proper method (assuming i want to expose for my dark subject) be to take the reading the incident meter gave me and closing down the lens 1 or 2 stops from it.

 

I'm trying to learn and will soon conduct some tests but until then it can get very confusing reading the forum because of the different ways of explaining, etc.

 

Hugo,

 

I know it can be confusing but let me try to explain it based on what you said above. Forget about the snow and the zones and the rest. It's actually very simple.

 

Hold your meter up where your subject/object is with the dome pointed to your camera. Lets say that reading is "F11". This "F11" means that a card or non-pale caucasian face will expose normal if you set your lens to this number.

 

You said your subject or object is dark. What you might want to do in this case is give your object more chance to expose on the film. To do this you'll want to overexpose it a little by "opening up" your lens. So in this example you would then set your lens to F8 instead of F11. This will allow more light to hit the film (1 stop more). For 2 stops more light just open it up to F5.6

 

In reality you might want to add some more light to this dark object by bouncing some extra sunlight from a bounce board or whatever you have. You might want to do this because when you put the lens on F8, instead of F11, the background is going to get brighter. By putting more light on it, you can keep the background more normal looking by staying at F11.

 

Film has a lot of range, or latitude, so don't be worried about bright spots in general. You just want to balance things as best you can.

 

Above you had your terms mixed up. If you took your reading, your dark object might appear underexposed, not over. And when you said "close down the lens" you should have said "open up".

 

Closing down examples: Moving your lens from F2.8 to F11 is closing it. --F2.8 lets a lot of light in while F11 keeps a lot of light out.

 

Open up examples: Moving from F22 to F4. --F22 is barely letting any light in while F4 is still letting a lot in.)

 

With a little practice you will get it and you'll find it a lot more rewarding and even faster than shooting video. Soon you may get to where you don't need a meter as much. Many times I can look at a shot and guess and be very close to what the meter says.

[Hugo Alexandre]

Hey Vincent. Thank you for the wonderful explanation. And good call on the background getting brighter if I open up the lens to expose for my dark subject. Of course in hindsight it seems self-evident, but when you're trying to understand a few concepts simultaneously it doesn't always come to mind.

[Stephen Williams]

If you're using a spot meter and take a reading off the snow, you'd be correct (generally speaking) to open up a stop or more from the meter's reading, depending on the film.

 

Hi,

 

If I took a spot reading of the snow I would open up 3 stops from what the meter said, assuming I wanted a normally exposed image. Taking an incident reading as Adam said, using it would save an awful lot of time & potential for mistakes.

 

Stephen

[Paul Bruening]

In all this very fine distinction and discussion we haven't yet determined his subject. If his subject is a human with roughly normal, caucasian skin tone, then he has to read and expose for the skin tone. This will have to include all that bounced light coming up from below and all around (snow scene). That's also assuming he isn't using negative fill on closer shots. If the subject matter is just the snowy landscape, then he'll adjust his readings to compensate for the over-brightness of the snow. If he has to inter-cut, then he has to expose both images at the skin tone reading.

 

I use the words, "has to". Of course, I don't actually mean, "has to".

 

The same generally goes for a burnt landscape or scene. The faces and skins have to look right. The scene and all of its negative fill impact on the subject will just have to go dark or be lit to compensate... a difficult task- lighting the scene and not the subject.

 

Sure, I'm repeating what others have said. The difference is- The skin is the thing. The viewer will tolerate the scene going any old way. The skin has to look right. That's our psychological priority.

[Hugo Alexandre]

In all this very fine distinction and discussion we haven't yet determined his subject. If his subject is a human with roughly normal, caucasian skin tone, then he has to read and expose for the skin tone. This will have to include all that bounced light coming up from below and all around (snow scene). That's also assuming he isn't using negative fill on closer shots.

 

Yes, let's assume my subject is a human being with fairly normal caucasian skin. My understanding is that I can use the reading straight from the meter if I'm exposing for his skin. But are you implying that since I'm shooting around snow I should close down from the reading the meter gives me?

 

And should I keep that same reading for all other scenes? I don't want to branch out into another topic, but this whole "keeping skin tones consistent" business is a bit confusing too. Does that imply to always have the same light intensity on our subject's skin (not including instances where the face must be shadowed of course)?

[James Baker]

Don't feel bad Hugo. I have to spend a lot of time each semester getting it through to my students. Here's a good, straightforward resource from our pals at Kodak: http://www.kodak.com/cluster/global/en/con...af9/index.shtml

 

Read it carefully and slowly, remembering the difference between an incident meter measuring light falling on the subject and a reflective meter (which can be a spot meter, too) measuring light reflecting off the subject. Think slowly about those two different kinds of measurement. And, remember too, that all meters will read as medium gray (aka caucasian skin tone)

 

And try this: measure a black board, then a white board, then a medium gray board with a reflective meter. Check the readings. Do it with an incident meter. What's happening?

 

And, as David has already mentioned, forget the Zone System since you will not be manipulating process to adjust contrast. That is a key part of the Zone System --to be able to move zones around with developing.

 

You'll get it. Sometimes it just takes wrapping your head tightly around it.