Attitudes towards exposure

[shyoon]

Pretty much wing it 90% of the time. It's produced workable results, but I'm going to have to get a decent hand-held light meter soon.

 

[alexnotalex]

Using Sunny 16 outside in daytime (where I take most of my pics) I get good results... but still can't tell between EV 10,9 and 8... so will meter with my dslr or point and shoot or bracket, no biggie.

I bought a shoe mounted meter on ebay, lovely. Took it out, lost it, bought another one, took it out, lost it - grrrrrr. Could have bought a new digisix...

I am interested in the iphone lightmeter app... one day,

but for now i have my eyes ::checks:: fuzzy-edged shadows outside... f11

best,
alex

 

[Rogier]

Ever since I started shooting with a Holga I have been pleasantly surprised what acceptable exposures I get with just two options. Sunny and Cloudy...

 

[Eddie90723]

I never used a light meter until I got a 4x5 and had to use slow film for it. Lord knows I struggle between reflected vs nonreflected light using it. When do you leave the dome on the meter is my biggest issue. So for taking a guess I switch into Holga mode so to speak and shoot F8 at 125 or 100 if possible. It's no where near right but I tend to shoot fast film so I get a picture out of it. Not the best but better than nothing.

 

[Finder]

Using a meter requires you to develop your skills in doing that. There is no "best" way. There is only a way that is effective for you. You will probably start by metering at each exposure, but as your experience grows with how to use the meter and the conditions you shot under, you will find you can meter for a scene. You will also get a feel for light and know how to judge exposure without the need for a meter.

 

[35mmdelux]

I shoot with an M7 (AE camera) and its always been spot on. In tricky lighting situations I go manual and use my judgment.

 

[35mmdelux]

Ever since I started shooting with a Holga I have been pleasantly surprised what acceptable exposures I get with just two options. Sunny and Cloudy...

Kudos. Obviously very talented.

 

[oftheherd]

I prefer to meter, in camera if possible, or hand held light meter if not. If I have a camera with no meter and don't have a light meter, then if I have a box that gives suggestions, I use that (the way I learned in the sixties, before I had a light meter or a camera with one). Otherwise, I just guess, and probably bracket if I can. I don't know that answers the OP's question, but it is how I do it.

 

[xxloverxx]

I just go with whatever I feel's right. Usually overexpose by 1 or 2 stops, looking at the final negative.

I shoot Tri-X and trust it to save me when I forget to change exposure.

 

[Doug]

I never used a light meter until I got a 4x5 and had to use slow film for it. Lord knows I struggle between reflected vs nonreflected light using it. When do you leave the dome on the meter is my biggest issue. ...

Hi Eddie -- Use the dome for incident readings; that is, reading the light incident on the subject. Ideally, you'd go over to the subject location and then point the dome back at the camera, so that the dome "sees" the same light that is falling on the subject. This is not the same as pointing the dome at the light source!

Often it's inconvenient/impossible to put yourself at the subject location, so you can approximate it from the camera location if it's in the same light... but again point the dome directly away from the subject.

The nice thing about this method is that the reading is not affected by the reflective properties of the subject; that is, it's subject-neutral, so the subject tones will be more likely to render naturally on the negative.

You can get an incident reading without the dome, by positioning a standard grey-card in the same light as the subject, and directly metering it. You can approximate this by metering your palm and closing down a stop. [EDIT: oops, make that opening up a stop!] Also, you can point the reflective meter not exactly at the subject but to include a balanced mix of dark and light. Some techniques like this can be helpful for different circumstances. Note that a self-illuminated subject will call for direct metering. 🙂

I generally prefer to use incident metering when using a hand-held meter, as I think this usually gives me the best exposure. As long as I'm shooting subjects in the same light that I measured, there's no reason to change the camera exposure, though I may change both the shutter and aperture for effect while giving the same exposure. When the light is different, I check the meter again.

But I like auto-exposure cameras too, for their quick response to differing conditions, and for convenience. Then I use the direct-reading techniques such as mentioned above, as needed based on what I see, often locking exposure and recomposing, or switching to manual.

Good luck!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Incident light metering is ideal for transparencies, as it makes sure you will not get blown highlights: the exposure is 'keyed' to the highlights.

With negative films, you want to make sure that you do not underexpose the darkest areas (the shadows), i.e you 'key' exposure to the shadows. Incident light reading is NOT ideal for this if the subject brightness range (SBR) is long, the shadows are likely to be underexposed.

There is quite a lot about this on my web-site. For negatives: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps expo neg.html. For slides: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps expo slide.html

Cheers,

R.

 

[oftheherd]

Thanks Mr. Hicks. I always enjoy reading your site, no matter how many times I have read it before. I often find something I had forgotten, and wish to commit to memory again.

 

[JayGannon]

Free and easy here, the pic is more important than the exposure for me.

 

[MCTuomey]

You can get an incident reading without the dome, by positioning a standard grey-card in the same light as the subject, and directly metering it. You can approximate this by metering your palm and closing down a stop.

hmm, isn't the reflective-to-incident adjustment opening up one stop rather than closing one down? iirc, if your palm is one stop brighter than the mid-tone, then there should be one more stop of exposure, not one less.

 

[MCTuomey]

second that to roger, thanks for the link - very useful and a delight to read.

 

[Doug]

hmm, isn't the reflective-to-incident adjustment opening up one stop rather than closing one down? iirc, if your palm is one stop brighter than the mid-tone, then there should be one more stop of exposure, not one less.

Yes, of course you're right, Mike; thanks!

 

[Richard G]

I like what Finder said, the first and the second contributions. And one of the most important points is the one Roger made regarding the type of film in use. I made a number of decisions regarding the four or five shots left on a roll this weekend. I knew it was colour in the M6 but I cursed when I pulled out EG100 instead of Superia. Fred Parker's wonderful ultimate exposure calculator site reaches the crescendo when he tells you that YOU are now the ultimate exposure calculator, whether you have a lightmeter or not.

 

[Michael Markey]

Taking pics of the new pup.
Dark dog against a light background with strong sun coming through the window.
Had to guess `cause I didn`t know where the meter was 🙂
I actually took a few incident readings and winged it.
It seems to be no worse than ant other method.

M2,CV40 SC, APX400S.

 

[JPSuisse]

Hmm.

Can't vote on this one either given the limited options.

Even though BW is supposed to have a great lattitude, in practice I find that to get the smooth transition of the sky (slightly darker at the top and brighter at the horizon), you need to expose pretty correctly. I really like this effect.

With slide film, I'll take an incident reading (if I have my meter) or work of the sky to try to get the correct color of blue. With my M8 I did some checking by making a series of exposures. To get a nice color of blue, you really have to get pretty close to a correct exposure too.

I shoot mostly with my 2 MPs and sometimes carry a meter but use very often the exposure meter in the camera. I guess some too and then verify with the meter. The meters built into the MPs work quite well actually. If the light doesn't change, of course, I set once and don't look back.

Cheers,

JP

 

[atlcruiser]

Exposure has become very important to me over the past few months. In the past I would use the box speed or in the neighborhood of box speed then in camera meter. Once in a while I would hand meter.

I got tired of fussing with stuff in lightroom! I will soon be back to wet printing but for now lightroom and an epson r2880 is my set up. I find that the better the exposure the less time I need to fuss with the photo. Many "keepers" are regulated to the "fuss with later" file in LR cuz I dont feel like making curve adjsutments 15 time only to get back to where I started :0

With the help of many folks here i have started to really develope a system of film speed, metering, exposure and deeloping that is working great. The details are really not that big of a deal....

I guess the trick for me has been to think about it, ask a lot of questions, take notes and shoot...shoot a lot...develope a lot and see what you have and what you need to do to get the print you really want.

One great thing I did this last weekend was to match all of my cameras. I used a hand held and took measurements and compared to the in camera meter then took note of what was hi/low and in what situation.