On Wed, 14 Jun 2000 06:00:30 PDT, Olaf Greve wrote:
>>So on my first attempt to shoot something for TOPE2, I noticed that
>>there was a lot of heat lightning one night,
>
>I'm not quite certain what you mean with "heat lightning", but I suppose
>that you're referring to the phenomenon where after every few days of heat
>you have some thundershowers, that cause the temperature to go down a bit
>again, only to heat up over the course of a few days, to repeat itself all
>summer long? If so, then that sounds like something we also have over here.
Heat lightning is lightning that stays in the clouds, and results in
colored flashes of light instead of distinct bolts coming to the
ground.
>>drove to a remote bridge on the farm (with a great looking cypress tree
>>framing the horizon), framed my shot, set to underexpose 2 stops, and let
>>'er fly. During the exposure, anywhere from 2 to 5 flashes of heat
>>lightning would occur (sometimes different colors), so I was sure I'd get
>>good shots
>
>O.k., before we get down to the specific problems you described, I will
>already give you one key to success: from your descriptions I presume you
>had the camera set on Auto. Don't do this, as the camera will wait until
>_all_ of the film has seen enough light to satisfy the centre averaged meter
>(or until it's cut off by the 4 minute limit).
The handful of star/traffic/night shots I've done (including the ones
taken in Philly that I'll be submitting for TOPE) have all been done
on auto, set to underexpose by 1 to 2 stops. What this gives me is a
scene that is, on the average 1 to 2 stops underexposed, with nice,
contrasty pinpoint lights.
>>After shooting a half dozen exposures, I thought I should perhaps
>>flash the cypress tree to get it better defined, and freeze motion
>>(the wind was blowing pretty strong), so I started my exposure, gave
>>it 3 or 4 seconds, and then fired a hand held flash (Sunpack 433D) at
>>the cypress tree. Did this a couple of times, had lots of heat
>>lightning activity on the horizon, and was sure I'd gotten SOMETHING
>>useable.
>
>An interesting experiment. I've never experimented with this flash technique
>but in my mind I can picture the effect that you wanted to achieve and it
>sounds like a cool experiment which I may also give a shot someday...
>
>>Unfortunately, when the roll came back from the lab yesterday, there
>>were a dozen black frames in the middle of an otherwise normally
>>exposed roll. ARRRRRGH.
>
>O.k., now here's one important question: slide or film (did you write this
>somewhere and did I miss it)?
>In other words: were your "negatives" black (yielding white prints) or where
>you using slides that came out black?
Slides - Provia F
>For the latter case I wouldn't have a clue as to how to explain it.
That makes two of us!
If the
>positive looked completely black, that would indicate zero light reaching
>the film, something I guess only would be possible if you left the lens cap
>on your lens and shot a bulb exposure.
Since I have vivid memories of framing the shots (and moved the
camera a couple of times for different effects), I can rule out the
lens cap theory.
>>While it's possible that I shot the shots on another roll,
>>accidentally left the camera on manual mode (wouldn't account for the
>>5-10 second exposures),
>
>Yes, that's the strange thing. 5-10 seconds is really short (if your lens
>was stopped down a fair bit, that is)!
Not really - I shot @ f/8 (compromise between getting more time and
lightning and minimizing wind and ground vibration), and there was a
lot of heat lightning. My city shots were all less than a second, and
yielded good results, so 5-10 seconds seemed about right for out on
the farm.
Did you perhaps do one of the
>following:
>-Taken a spot reading somewhere and stored that in the memory.
I did try two exposures by spot metering a blank section of sky,
setting to shadow, and shooting. Same results.
>Can you perhaps give the following data:
>-Lens used;
28/2.8
>-Aperture;
f/8
>-Exposure mode;
>-Spot meterimg + memory yes/no (perhaps you shot something before and locked
>the exposure in the memory?).
split between spot metered and set to shadow and auto (-2)
>>Further, the exact same camera shot some very nicely exposed night shots in
>>Philly a week later (soon to be submitted to TOPE2) on the same settings.
>
>City shots can perfectly be shot in Auto mode, but for the lightning one
>really (IMO) should go with bulb exposures; Auto mode tends to keep the
>shutter way too long open causing the lightning to be washed away by other
>light.
Not if you underexpose.
>>Anyone else ever do this? Did I make a serious mis-calculation? Any
>>ideas on what could have happened?
>
>O.k., the above is some speculation based on some of my own experiences and
>on assumptions regarding the way you shot the pictures. Perhaps matters
>would become clearer if you could provide the data that I asked above...?!?
Maybe so.
BBB
-
B.B. Bean - Have horn, will travel
bbbean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Peach Orchard, MO
http://www.beancotton.com/bbbean.shtml
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