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Archive 2013 · Exposing Velvia

  
 
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Exposing Velvia


Tree trunks, dark leaves at 18% gray.

2 stops over 18% until white clips

1.5 stops under until shadow detail lost in grain (in 120 and 4x5)

Am I close?



Oct 19, 2013 at 03:41 PM
Peter Figen
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Exposing Velvia


I think you need to go out with a good light meter that has both a spot and incident function and take notes on your exposures and see what works for you. Your specs here are so vague that they don't mean much. Are your tree trunks white aspen or dark wet redwood? You've got about six stops to play with in Velvia and you're only accounting for three and a half here. I generally take in incident reading with the same light hitting the meter as what I'm shooting, stick to that setting and maybe move a half to a whole stop in either direction depending on the content. But again, you need to test your meter with your shutter/aperture and processing to see what works for you. I would recommend starting at ISO 40 rather than 50 though.


Oct 19, 2013 at 07:52 PM
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Exposing Velvia


Gah. Sorry. I meant to add one to all those figures; it was worded poorly implying otherwise. I've shot a lot with the film but on 135 and 120 (never with an internal meter), but I'm just getting back into it and need a refresher. I use the same basic technique but I try to shoot landscapes that are lit when there are shadows in the foreground and the subject is being hit by light so sometimes the incident meter gives a big overexposure so I try to spot meter primarily and not rely on the incident meter. When it's overcast the incident meter is my starting point, however.

I guess what I'm saying is... I'm new to photography so my terminology is bad, but... how many stops above and below 18% do I get with Velvia 50? I work in video and this is the terminology we always use. When I use the Alexa I expect 7 and a half stops over 18% gray and 6 and a half stops under at base ISO. When I use the Canon cinema cameras I expect the same 6.5 stops under but only 5.5 stops over and light accordingly or use grad filters and underexposure to compensate in exteriors.

When shooting Velvia I like to sweep the scene to make sure everything that is important is within its exposure latitude. No use shooting a high contrast scene when half will be white sky or black shadow. I also don't like to shoot scenes with a scene dynamic range much greater than the contrast ratio of a good print. So how many stops above and below 18% gray do I have? If it's the wrong terminology, forgive me, it's what I use in video.

But I'm guessing 2.5 stops under and 3 stops over at 50 ISO.

I know this is stupid terminology and you're shaking your head at the newbie, but it's critical to how I think. When I shoot video I always use the incident meter as a starting point to set the lens and ratios, then spot meter areas to try to avoid clipping, so this is how I'm approaching photography, too, perhaps wrongly.

Thanks as always. You must be the most helpful person on these boards and after this I'll stop leaning on your help. Already saving up for that 410 head and just got a better drop cloth from work, getting a linen tester, too.



Oct 19, 2013 at 09:17 PM
Peter Figen
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Exposing Velvia


It's not stupid terminology at all. It's just a slightly different way of referencing neutral gray. It's literally been decades since I did a test like you're asking for to determine the range of the film, but you're on the right track. You've got about six stops, more or less to play with, and it'll take you a roll or two to test for yourself to get a feel to where you want to bias your exposure. A lot of us today, also like to bracket our film exposures and combine the exposures for a fuller range later.

Once you get enough film under your belt, you'll be able to just look at the scene and know intrinsically how you want to expose. You just need a few rolls with decent notes and you'll quickly get the hang of it.



Oct 19, 2013 at 11:25 PM
Jeffrey
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Exposing Velvia


Peter's correct. And, I hope you know that you have chosen the most difficult film to work with. It has the narrowest DR of them all. My film work got much more pleasant when I finally stopped shooting velvia. I use Astia, and have started using Ektar neg. Velvia is good in overcast conditions that act like a huge soft box but if you have direct sun and shadow together, forget it.


Oct 20, 2013 at 05:26 PM
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Exposing Velvia


Well I feel a little better about my difficulty exposing, but I like the colors and don't see a reason to switch. For portraits I'd switch to Portra instead I'm sure or black and white. Bracketing sounds cool. It's hard to forget how expensive this is, though.

Peter, I did that with Velvia when I shot 135 (a few years ago) and now I'll do it again. You're right, better to focus on the technical stuff than jump straight to trying to get good shots and losing them to bad technique, as I have been. It's very frustrating. I'll go out and shoot some bad photos and take careful notes.

Jeffrey, I don't really have any interest in taking photographs except for those under low contrast light because prints are not too high contrast and HDR seems tacky to me unless done well. (I know the zone system is HDR, but it's done well I guess!) Everything I shoot is nature with overcast lighting or first or last light or with the sky in frame during a breaking storm. I found the trend toward images that look good in thumbnails (HDR, near/far, UWA, lens baby style focus, etc.) very tacky because the sense of depth is lost when printed large. To me the "stuck in customs" photographs are hideous eyesores. What I want to do is to isolate areas with patterns or texture leaving out a specific subject entirely and using medium/long lenses so space feels natural (135mm, 210mm, hopefully adding a 300mm+ soon) and then print them large so that you are lost in the texture and the composition is abstract and the subject somewhat arbitrary. Almost like wallpaper. This is not a popular style, nor one I am any good at, but I like limitations so I'm going with one film stock, two aspect ratios, and one style for now, and it being unpopular makes me unusual and me being bad at it gives me something toward which to strive.



Oct 20, 2013 at 09:21 PM
Peter Figen
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Exposing Velvia


One of the great things about Velvia is that the character of the image changes dramatically with the exposure. So while there might be one correct exposure technically, you might have an entire range that works artistically. For that reason alone, I almost always bracket my exposures and pick the one that's closest to the mood I felt when I was there. I always have the option after that to scan multiple exposures and brush in detail if needed.


Oct 20, 2013 at 10:11 PM





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