Jeff,
Welcome to the list. The questions you ask make it clear that you are serious
about learning. The following are my
thoughts. Filter them as you see fit.
A. You have discovered that film can handle a much more limited range of
luminance than the eye/brain combination can.
There are several approaches to high contrast contrast subjects. The easiest is
to use a lower contrast film than Velvia.
Faster slide films are generally less contrasty, but the scene you discribe is
probably out to the range of any transperancy
film. You can balance the lighting of the subject with fill flash (tricky to
make look natural) or reflectors. The object is to add
light to the darker portions of the subject and bring the scene contrast with in
the capability of the film. With negative films
you can alter developmment times to reduce contrast. That is a satisfying but
advanced technique. The most practical
solution might be to choose your composition with the knowledge that the film
can't handle some of this subject. Reducing
the amount of image devoted to the silhouetes may work, but it is up to you as
the photographer.
B. & D. Bracketing! You hear a lot about bracketing in the other forums because
automatic bracketing is a hot gee-whiz
capability of some of the new "professional" wonderbricks. Serious and capable
photographers (OM shooters?) don't need
such crutches, because they seldom bracket shots. IMHO, mindless bracketing, is
just that, mindless (and wasteful). You
should know when you DON'T know for sure what the best exposure is. In those
few cases, even good photographers will shoot an extra frame or two at different
exposures to give themselves a choice of the finished image. An automatic plus
and minus 2-stop bracket in 1/3 stop steps is a sign of a clueless photographer
who doesn't understand exposure or trust his equipment. But Kodak loves the
practice.
In those situations where you are unsure of exposure, the easiest way to bracket
with an OM-2 is to use the exposure
compensation knob. If you remenber that each click detent is 1/3 stop, you
don't even have to take your eye away from the
view fiinder. Works on auto or manual. But, if you are shooting manual
exposure, it is even easier if you remember the
needle scale (each symbol is 1 stop). Then just adjust the aperture or shutter
speed to move the neeedle up (more exposure) or down (less exposure) to shoot
your bracketing shots. Again, you can do it without removing your eye from the
viewfinder. Where on the LCD on the top of the wonderbrick is the icon for
"mindless over-bracketing"? Try that while still looking through the
viewfinder!
C. All exposures on a roll of film will recieve the same development (you can't
physically do otherwise!). If you want to
push some exposures but not others you are going to have to abandon roll film
and get a view camera to shoot one sheet at a
time! With the quality of faster slide films these days, I don't see much
advatage to pushing. Some photographers, of course, have their own recipes for
certain sistuations that involve pushing film. Try straight development until
you are more confident.
D. The few shots you had on that roll that were dark probably resulted from a
non-average scene which fooled the camera. Here is where you need to learn what
scenes will fool the center-weighted meter so you can adjust the camera selected
exposure. Had you forseen that on those frames, you could have adjusted the
exposure compensation (not just "overexposed 1/2 or 1/3 stop") to achieve the
result you wanted. It takes practice and critical review of your results. Good
luck! And shoot a lot.
E. I have an E. Everyone on this list is equal, so you are allowed to
capitalize your personal pronoun. Say it with me: "I am worthy of
capitalization!" ;-)
Regards,
Gary Edwards
Jeff Borenstein wrote:
> Hello All!
> I have just gotten back my first roll of velvia shot with a 2n mainly
> during the last hour or so before and during sunset. The shots I got back
> were really punchy and great color, just as I expected from this film i've
> heard so much about. A few quick questions i'd like to clear up before i
> burn 20 rolls of this stuff soon...
>
> A) When taking sunsets and or shots with a dominate foreground and
> background (I shot a chapel which was lit by bulbs and it had a statue in
> front) is there a way to get *some* definition in the foreground? I mainly
> got silhoutess with great color in the sky..what could I have done to
> improve this?
>
> B) Bracketing. I hear so much about this! Am i confusing the little dial
> next to the shutter release and the ASA knob in regards to bracketing? If I
> have a scene and i move the dial down one (the knob that shows up in the
> viewfinder) and up one knob this is esentially bracketing the shot 1/3rd
> stop up and down? Or do I need to change the ASA knob? does changing the
> ASA knob esentially do the same thing, but allows for less control like the
> other switch?
>
> C) With the 20 rolls of velvia and 5 or 6 of elitechrome 100, i got the
> fuji mailers. I read that they dont "push process" film. The roll of
> velvia i did develop was done really well at a local lab, but it cost 13
> bucks! For this price I could get processing and a roll of film by mail! I
> dont really care about the time it will take to develop these slides, but if
> i use the concept of bracketing will Fuji develop the scene i bracketed all
> the same?
>
> D) On the topic of the Auto exposure, i've found that sometimes the needle
> isnt quite around a specific shuterr speed. If I am in manual mode I
> usually find the combination of Fstop / speed to center the needle. Of
> course the little knob by the shutter will change this minutely. I'm pretty
> sure this is how bracketing is done on the 2n. All this talk on photo.net
> and the newsgroups about bracketing MUST be with these flashy new cameras.
> The roll was mainly on auto and it came out well. But of course a few shots
> were darker than expected. Should i have overexoposed 1/3rd or 1/2 a stop?
>
> E) haha there is no E.
>
> All of these pretty much revolve around velvia and bracketing / exposure
> procedure on the 2n in particular. But indirectly i'd like to make sure
> that the fuji mailers will be able to correctly develop the film using these
> technqies. See letter C.
>
> Thanks,
> -Jeff Borenstein
>
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