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Thread: clouds

  1. #1

    clouds

    When photographing Clouds , how should I meter to get the exposure that will be corect? I have tried several different ways and can't seem to come up with a correct method that I can use all the time. It seem that there is very little written on the subject. Thanks , James O. Kenney

  2. #2
    Moderator Ralph Barker's Avatar
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    clouds

    Assuming the clouds are the subject, and there is no land or other non-atmospheric elements in the frame, I just spot meter different areas of the cloud mass, and then "place" key elements where I want them, tone-wise.

  3. #3

    clouds

    SO what if I have some land mass in it , or some buildings, but the clouds will be the most important part of the picture. I dont have any troouble with metering the shadow areas in the buildings or trees, but the clouds seem to come out week. James

  4. #4

    Join Date
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    clouds

    1/ISO @ f:16, and bracket.
    Wilhelm (Sarasota)

  5. #5

    Join Date
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    clouds

    For B&W? Meter the clouds and open two more stops.

  6. #6

    clouds

    shoot negs and burn in in the darkroom...

  7. #7

    clouds

    Mr. Tyler, that is what I have been doing in the past, but I thought that the zone system was supposed to eleminate at least some of that, wrong or right. James

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    clouds

    Just a thought: it may not entirely be an exposure problem.

    Really well-defined clouds should be cross-lit with hard sunlight to create highlights and shadows in them. You really need to have something to photograph.

    Backlit clouds tend to regress back into a hazy light sky. Clear blueness can help your shot (if not my grammar) tremendously.

    Your (b&w?) Film may be overly sensitive to UV and require yellow filtration. In an emergency situation, possibly even red filtration.

    If the sky and clouds are both bright and you need to also carry shadow detail in the land below, a graded neutral density filter may be of use. I agree with Adrian that burning under the enlarger will help. The Zone System will not.

    Just remember: colored filters and polarizers don’t work on gray days.

    I am not really a filter freak who believes they will fix everything. But in this case, perhaps?

  9. #9

    clouds

    Just one more question, would taking an incident reading or a grey card make a difference? How about an incident reading +or - 0ne or two stops . James

  10. #10

    Join Date
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    clouds

    In my experience, in a blue sky with clouds in it, the sky, sufficiently high above the horizon usually meters at 14 and white clouds at 16 or higher. These are the numbers shown on my Pentax digital spotmeter. The sky high above the horizon may be taken to be at Zone V, at least for normal development. So, again for normal development, you could meter the whitest clouds and reduce exposure by two stops. If your scene also includes ground features in which you want detail, you may have to set that at Zone III and then modify development so the whitest clouds come out at Zone VII or higher.

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