Metering a black subject

[Blooze]

After the experience a couple of weeks ago of my in Pentax camera meter being off I started thinking about the metering of my train photos. I know I should remember how to do this but after so many years away from actually using a meter...well :bang:. Most of the time the train will be hit with high side lighting during the day because of it's location. So harsh light most of the time, at least when I'm able to access it inside the fence. I have a Luna Pro SBC meter to use as well as the in camera meter.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to get a good tonal range in black and white where the subject is dark and fills most if not all of the frame?

Here's a link to some of the photos to give you an idea. There's some in the Pentax ME folder as well.

http://www.rollinghillsimagery.com/Film/Yashica-Mat

 

[Roger Hicks]

From http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/meters and metering.html

The proverbial black cat in a coal cellar is a good example here. The overall scene may reflect as little as 2-3% of the light falling on it, again, a 6x difference as compared with 'average'.

Once again, the remedy is simple. Give anything from one to two stops less than the meter indicates. As with the light subject, this is less compensation than you might think, but you want a modest amount of over-exposure in order to get some detail in the cat's fur. Black fur 'eats' light, so in this specific case, one stop less than the meter indicates is normally ideal.

With an incident light meter, you will however need to increase the exposure somewhat in order to get detail in the fur. About a stop extra is the likeliest bet.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Blooze]

Thanks Roger.

I was using my meter as an incident , which was giving me f/11 at 1/125 on most all the shots on the sunny side of the train. Most of the shots were really flat and I had problems even after scanning them to give them any life at all. I have access on most Saturdays, so I'll go back down and shoot some more giving it a stop extra this time.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Thanks Roger.

I was using my meter as an incident , which was giving me f/11 at 1/125 on most all the shots on the sunny side of the train. I have access on most Saturdays, so I'll go back down and shoot some more giving it a stop extra this time.

That should work. Let us all know!

See also http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/over-under-indices.html

Cheers,

R.

 

[Blooze]

Well, here you go Roger. Scanned, dust specks cloned out, a very slight curve adjustment, sharpened lightly for output. I took a whole roll of this train cab with my Yashica Mat, but fighting for space (it's only has about a 5' x 4' floor space) and trying to make the quick shot with 1/4 sec exposures...well, I maybe have one or two other shots that are mediocre. It really sucks for trying to take a photo with the Yashica because the only place to sit the camera is on a ledge on the far side of the cab where I have to stand on my tip toes with my head smashed against a steel panel to barely get one eye on the view screen :bang: I basically just winged the focus and alignment. This was by far the best with lots of crooked and off angle ones 🙂. I have some shots with my Pentax ME Super which the questions above really related to, but I applied your advice for this shot as well. Soon as I get the Pentax roll finished and developed I'll hopefully have some comparison shots.

 

[lynnb]

^^ I like this shot - looking forward to seeing your Pentax pics! I have happy memories of riding in the cab of a working steam engine as a young lad - didn't have a camera with me..

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Interesting shot.

Personally, I'd push the contrast a little and burn in the blacks, they look too grey for my taste. However, as Roger has said in print, there is no such thing as correct exposure, only what you like!

😀

 

[Blooze]

Interesting shot.

Personally, I'd push the contrast a little and burn in the blacks, they look too grey for my taste. However, as Roger has said in print, there is no such thing as correct exposure, only what you like!

😀

Yup. That was basically a quick PP with little to no adjustments to see what I had. Here is another quick one I did at work this morning 😛 I only have CS2 here, but I think this is the direction I want to go. Obviously I'll redo the burning to be a little more exacting, but I think I have a print possibility here.

 

[L Collins]

18% Grey Card. Meter from it in same light as the black subject. Simple and easy.

 

[Blooze]

18% Grey Card. Meter from it in same light as the black subject. Simple and easy.

I'll give that a try as well. Learning to use a handheld meter for the first time. I'm just happy I ended up with something that wasn't horribly underexposed like last time. It made scanning and any adjustment a breeze. This is my 4th roll ever of MF film and only the 6th roll since returning to film after nearly 30 years. Heck, I'm just glad I got anything at all 😀

 

[noisycheese]

Black Cat rocks!

Black Cat rocks!

I would highly recommend getting one of these: http://www.blackcatphotoproducts.com/guide.html

They are extremely helpful - and surprisingly accurate - for wierd exposure situations.

 

[williams473]

These days I'm not as picky about as exposure as I used to be and it rarely seems to matter, but for years I was really into shooting with spot metering (on the street) and followed a pared-down version of the zone system that would have irritated Ansel Adams with it's simplicity but worked fine enough for me. I used the old "expose for the shadows and process for the highlights" rule. It worked well enough - I would spot meter the shadow area of the scene and my meter put that value in zone 5, or 18% gray, as meters do. I would then (as Roger suggested) stop down two stops from there to put my shadows in the blackest black they could get while still retaining a hint of detail (or zone 3.)

These days I generally meter the gray card or do an incident metering of the scene and shoot away until the light changes since most of my cameras don't have on board meters. My Contax SLR that does have metering on board does a great job on matrix metering and I trust it entirely.

Course I don't wring my hands over exposure anymore - with the latitude of the films we have these days it's pretty hard to blow it, even when being off a good bit so I don't sweat it too much.

Matt