Bright light exposure compensation on M6 TTL

[tbm]

I'm experiencing a mental blockage about this, so I've posted this inquiry. Simply put, I'm going to be shooting some men fishing atop a pier at the ocean in the late afternoon and the sun will be in front of them but not in the viewfinder. With that backlighting and very bright ocean in front of them (no sand, just deep and bright sunlit water), I know that it is advisable to open the aperture 2-3 stops, but I want to start out with the sunny 16 rule which, in this case, will initially be f8 at 1/500th of a second. and I simply want to adjust the shutter speed. Therefore, what shutter speed adjustment will be necessary to create the equivalence of opening the aperture two stops (in this instance, from 1/500th to what?).

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Well if you want to overexpose (like in a snow landscape) than go down two stops from 500 > 250 > 125. However if I understand your situation correctly, why overexpose with such a great contrast, just take the picture and let the contrast do its work.

 

[tbm]

Because I recently captured an image at the same location of some people on a ferris wheel, aiming my M6 TTL toward them with bright sky around them, and the negative image was underexposed, so I know the forthcoming capture with its much more intense light will be even more underexposed without adjusting the shutter speed.

 

[FPjohn]

Hello:
The M6 meter is a semi-spot not an averaging meter. Hence, a reading of the sky will give underexposure of at least two stops. One trick is to find a tone within your scene that is
middle grey, read that, and let the other values fall where they may. Alternatively, read the shadows and close down 21/2-3stops.

A reading of the Ansel Adams' "The Negative" is a good place to start. *

yours
FPJ

*or read a 18% Grey Card in the same light.

 

[dfoo]

... or use sunny 16, or use an incident meter, or meter off the palm of your hand and open ~1 stop.

 

[MCTuomey]

+1 what FP and dfoo have said. either approach will work.

otherwise, if you're going to work off the M6 ttl meter, acknowledge that your meter will be fooled by the bright sky, remember that the difference b/w sunlite and shadow can be 2-4 stops depending on the time of day, and then add exposure (either wider aperture or slower shutter speeds or both).

study one of the simplified zone system books. it will all become quite clear.