Bros. I need your help with Exposure / Lighting

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Hi,

I have a shoot in June, and today I went to recce the place, what I want to shoot the subject, and capture the background.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6975071&l=39738a0a50&id=691207601

This was taken with a 645 MF camera with lens 65/f4. The film was rated at ISO 400. the exposure was something like f8 and 1/30 or 1/60.

There are 2 issues with this photo if you'd ignore the composition:

* subject is not focused. the solution is quite simple, I think that if I focused at f8 on the subject, the background details will be preserved though not as sharp.

* the highlight in the buildings is blown while the subject's lighting is just right.

I can think of 2 solutions, this is where I need your advice to critique my method.

solution A: use an orange or red filter, open up 2 stops when shooting. This will darken the sky while the sitter's face will be brightened. The steps and water will be very dark indeed.

solution B: use a flash. I have a metz ct-45 flash gun with a bounce card. so I would switch to f8 and take a flash. the camera would be adjusted from f8 and 1/60 to f8 and 1/250. ( assuming the distant sky/shoreline is an f8 and 1/500 exposure). The sky would be darkened by 2 stops preventing a blow out, the steps, boat and water will be darker, while the subject is illuminated.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

raytoei
ps. the sky/shoreline was a f8 sunny 16 day. while the subject on the boat was around f4 sunny 16.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

dn:

thanks! i do intend to use a reflector but i think the difference would be minimal since the lighting is like an f4/sunny16 situation. the whole river is shaded by the tall buildings.

i will experiment with a filter and report back.

thanks !

raytoei