How do YOU meter for transparencies?

[Eric Leppanen]

When shooting transparencies I agree that, when push comes to shove (no pun intended), avoiding blown-out highlights usually takes priority over other considerations. Then again, blacked out shadows are no fun, either. That is why transparency films are typically used when lighting is even or relatively soft, as in the so-called "golden hour" (first hour after sunrise or last hour before sunset, although in reality the period of ideal lighting is considerably shorter). Transparency films have at most five stops of usual range (less than that with the more contrasty varieties), so any type of contrasty light will pose problems.

The latest transparency films have fairly good expansion (pushing) capabilities. Fuji Provia 100F, for example, can be pushed two stops with good results, and the higher contrast, higher saturation Velvia 100 can be pushed one stop. Pushing raises the value of highlights while having relatively little affect on shadows, so that if one wants to add "snap" to an image shot in flat lighting (e.g., exposure range of only 3.5 stops), a one stop push would expand the film to a 4.5 stop range, which is at the limit of what transparency film can handle.

However, the main problem facing transparency shooters is that image contrast frequently exceeds what the film can handle, and the traditional solution for such situations (contraction or "pulling") works poorly with transparency films. For example, Provia 100F can be pulled only 1/2 stop. Such a pull lowers the highlight values by one half stop, thus allowing one half stop of additional exposure (opening up the shadow areas slightly) while holding the highlight areas. However, pulling only a half stop rarely makes much difference in the final result, which is why pulling transparency film is rarely done.

When in a hurry, I use an incident meter (assuming I am standing in the same light as my subject), which provides a "middle of the road" exposure reading which errs on the side of holding highlights (most incident meters I've used seem to be calibrated to transparency film, i.e. "expose for the highlights"). When metering in this manner, if the exposure range of the image exceeds what the film can handle, the highlights will be OK but the shadow areas will be blacked out. When using color print or B&W film (with much greater exposure latitudes than transparencies), the incident reading will often needlessly underexpose the shadow areas; when shooting color print film, for example, I most often add two stops to my metered reading since the film will still be able to hold the highlights.

More control is obtained by using spot metering, since one can specifically measure highlight and shadow values and explicitly determine an exposure that will do justice to both (or make trade-off decisions if holding both highlights and shadows is not possible). A complication with using a spot meter, however, is that it is calibrated to an 18% grey scale target, and subjects with different tonal values and reflectivity will throw the metered readings off, sometimes by over two stops. One solution to this problem is to use color cards (such as the Chromazone system, see http://www.photonaturalist.com/chrom...torial_2a.html) to correct for different reflectivity readings. A more common approach is to develop a good eye for tones (ignoring the distraction of colors) and become well practiced at identifying those elements within a subject which have a similar tone to 18% grey scale, and which therefore make accurate targets for meter readings.

I personally use all of these approaches, depending on the situation. In challenging lighting conditions, however, I always bracket. Better to expend some film to ensure getting the shot, than risk losing everything due to an exposure error.

Spot metering to a highlight value only (such as adding 1 1/2 stops to a cloud reading as mentioned above) will typically record the highlights well, but leaves the shadow values undefined and possibly too dark. In my experience, digital manipulation using a drum scanner can successfully raise shadow values by one to maybe two stops, but anything more than that will result in an unacceptable amount of noise in the shadow areas. For this reason, I shoot contrasty subjects using color print or B&W film, rather than relying too much on the drum scanner to retrieve lost shadow detail. However, the best results usually come from returning to the subject when the lighting is softer (within a range that transparency film can handle), since color and texture will be best rendered in such circumstances, regardless of the film and exposure techniques used.

[Leonard Metcalf]

Incident readings for me, as long as the light is right. Otherwise it is back to the spot meter, where I try to find a neutral as Eric describes (or set highlights or shadows depending on effect). For sunsets I just use a 30 degree reflected meter at the sky making sure I don't get the sun in the reading (got that tip from this forum - thanks it works a treat). One photographer told me once that I should always trust my incident meter... well most of the time he was right. I carry two meters, the spot is set at my black and white film speed, while my incident is set at my colour film speed... this stops me messing up the exposures by forgetting to change the ISO / ASA. Another photographer showed me how to measure the shadows and highlights with an incident meter which then allows me to choose where I want the highlights or shadows to fall. Personally I believe there is nothing wrong with a huge black area or a huge white area as long as it is considered in the composition. On the other hand there are so many photographs that I take in my mind, but don't with my camera, just because I know they won't work on film. They make pleasant memories.

[dyuhas]

One solution to this problem is to use color cards (such as the Chromazone system, see http://www.photonaturalist.com/chrom...torial_2a.html)

URL is http://www.photonaturalist.com/chromazone/index.html.

Dave

[David_Senesac]

I seem to work with exposure settings differently than the rest of you. I almost never bracket and still am infrequently off by more than about 1/6 stop. It works for me so I have no incentive to learn more widely used techniques. The first few years I used my view camera, I did so only occasionally. Being cheap I'd use my old 35mm SLR 5 degree spot meter function. I'd been using spot meters in 35mm and MF doing landscape work for about 15 years. When I finally retired my beat up 6x7 and became more serious about using the 4x5, I could not understand why one would need a one degree spot meter for landscape work despite the fact a lot of people talk up the favorite one degree models like they are some big deal. Those models also tended to have all sorts of functionality that to me would only be useful for commercial photographers with all that artificial lighting equipment I had no interest in. Thus I saved over $100 buying something cheaper which is also half the weight of those other models. That is a 5 degree Shepherd Polaris Dual 5 which is a little digital incident plus reflective 5 degree spot meter.

The Polaris doesn't have those usual functions that given a reading allow automatic calculation of shutter speed versus aperature for a given film ASA. Instead it just provides an EV reading which is fine because before getting that meter I'd used an EV chart with my old SLR noted above. From the perspective of judging the amount of light on a subject, just using EV readings is simpler and from doing so I can now judge EV readings within about 0.2 EV during much of the daytime hours by my eyes alone without even taking readings. If I were just reading a meter with calculated shutter speed/aperture/asa outputs that would not be the case. I've only used Provia 100F for the last three years so have an EV chart pasted onto the back of the meter for ASA 100 which I already have learned by memory so rarely have to refer to until light gets dim. Most of the rest of you outdoor photographers are of course using the contrasty high saturation films like Velvia that are in fact more difficult to shoot during the middle of the day without blowing out highlights. Although Provia works better during the sunnier hours of the day, I also avoid shooting bright landscapes dominated by granite, snow, or other bright light colored elements during mid day. However a number of the images I market on my home webpage index were in fact taken within two or three hours of midday here in the Southwest. That is especially true of subjects that have wildflowers or trees. My favorite times to shoot are between 1.5 and 3.5 hours after sunrise or before sunset. In the Sierra mid summer that would be 7:30am till 9:30am PDT or 4:30pm to 6:30pm PDT. I do of course take advantage of the warm light before in the morning and after in the late afternoon but do so more selectively than others. I'm not too impressed by a lot of images photographers seem amused with at those times maybe because I've been shooting so many years in high mountains where I see such light often.

So for most landscapes I prefer to use the incident sensor and when I do so don't use it the way I've often read of placing it out towards the target scene. Instead I place it perpendicular to the sun as all I care about is understanding how much light the sun is producing through the clarity of the atmosphere towards the scene I'm shooting. During the above hours I prefer to work, the EV reading on typical clear mountain summer days are almost always between EV 14.5 and EV 15.4 with EV 15.2 a typcial reading at 8:30am. From that reading I will back off about 0.6 EV to set my shutter speed and aperture. If I'm shooting off axis or even backlit I will also take some off axis readings. If my position is in the shade and the target is not, like is often the case early and late, I will use the spot meter just like I did years before and back off from 0.4 to 0.7 EV. If I am in a scene dominated by bright elements like granite I may spot meter and back off 1.5 stops. In any case for each scene I use my experience to modify the raw EV readings depending on scene elements. For instance lots of bright and modify towards less light on the film or lots of dark modify towards more light on the film. ...David

[Jim Rice]

For trannies i always used an incident reading from my ultra-trusted L28-c2. For the original Velvia I used EI 40. Worked every damn time. I probably lost a little shadow detail but I never blew a highlight.

Now that I'm starting all over in B&W, and with a beautiful new/old L28-c2 (the old one, unfortunately, was lost to a fire) I will be a little more wary and a liitle more willing to expand my metering options, But it is still my starting point. It's comfortable and familiar.

[Darcy Cote]

Some good tips here but it can all be very confusing. I suggest to pick up John Shaw's book "Nature photography field guide" It has been a great help for me. He developed a 5 stop chart for transparency films from textureless white to detailess black. It really is fool proof. Another thing I have been doing is drawing a rough picture of the scene I am about to photograph and meter all the tones within the scene and write all the meter readings on the sketch. I use exposure values which shows you the stops difference throughout the scene. This way I can look at the sketch and see what exposure range I have in the scene to see if I will blow out my highlights or lose detail in my shadows. Working with this and John Shaw's five stop chart, I am able to decide where to put my exposure. The thing is, I work primarily in wide panoramics and if I don't pay attention to the shadows and I lose detail there. The shadow section can be huge on the panoramic and ruin the shot. So drawing out the rough sketch (which takes little time) makes me focus on the range of exposure along the image and I can either readjust my exposure, use gradual nd or recompose my shot.

[Brent McSharry]

I couldn't even tell ya what a Zone is

are you even allowed to make jokes like that on this forum????

[DrPablo]

If there's an area of very rich color detail that is central to the photo, I usually meter off of that, because I find that rich color looks best on zone 5.

Othewise I tend not to do spot readings for transparencies, just regional readings, and I meter off either the brightest region in the scene or a gray card.

[robc]

Don't worry about it. Just pretend you never read it then it won't trouble you..

[john borrelli]

Perhaps this is somewhat off topic in this excellent discussion, but I found success with my landscape exposures went up tremendously when I was able to use my graduated nuetral density filters. These filters can cut down the range of exposures to be considered by one, two or three stops. I then could concentrate on the foreground and middle ground exposure values, more often than not using a middle value. If I thought there was real potential for the photo, I bracketed exposures.