How to Spot Meter, and best metering techniques in general for Landscapes...?

[Ken Lee]

"How is it done and how is it applied in this day and age, if (for people like me) people don't have access to their own darkroom and printing facilities?"

Find out what you can from whoever develops your film: do they let you specify developer or development times? What methods do they use ? You'll have to adapt to them or find someone who will support your efforts.

"How is it done digitally or with being able to do your own developing and printing with negative and slide films?"

You might find this article helpful.

[BradS]

"I realize that many of you won't agree, but there is no need to obsess...It isn't rocket science."


I completely agree.

A sheet of 4x5 or 8x10 is NOT fundamentally any different from a frame of 35mm or 120 roll film when it comes to determining the exposure. There are many methods of determining exposure, spot metering and the zone system are just one. Nothing about large format necessitates the use of that particular method.

[Leigh]

Use one film, one developer, one process, one paper, one paper developer and learn that one well...

That's the best advise anyone could give.

- Leigh

[Gary Tarbert]

That's the best advise anyone could give.

- Leigh

My motto exactly Then they go and discontinue the film , or stop importing it to any country where you can buy it at a reasonable price Cheers Gary

[Marizu]

A sheet of 4x5 or 8x10 is NOT fundamentally any different from a frame of 35mm or 120 roll film when it comes to determining the exposure. There are many methods of determining exposure, spot metering and the zone system are just one. Nothing about large format necessitates the use of that particular method.

This is absolutely true, but the cost of a sheet of 10x8 is fundamentally different to the cost of a 120 frame so I can't afford to bracket and I really don't want to get my exposure wrong (not trying to dig at you, Brad, just trying to get to the bottom of why people obsess about metering).

Metering isn't rocket science when you have a good understanding of it.

Spot metering for the shadows is the most consistent way that I have found to ensure that I don't under-expose negative film and spot metering the most significant highlights is the best way that I have found to not to blow chromes.

Incident can be a bit of a crap shoot under certain lighting conditions.

The time and frustration of metering might be a consideration. My Sekonic type (5nn?) is slow because they only take a reading one click at a time and you have to remove it from your eye to see the reading.
I have an older type where you just press the trigger, sweep it around the scene and then remember the smallest number that you see. That is really fast and easy to use.

[Brian Ellis]

AAs was too detailed!

But I must admit that I find it easy and fairly effective with my Sekonic L-558 to take a couple of readigns and press the AVG button!

That's certainly fine if your objective is to simply make a printable negative and I wouldn't criticize that method or that goal. But the goal of the zone system isn't just to get a printable negative, it's to allow you to make the print you want to make with the least possible effort. That print might be a high-key print in which the darkest area is a light gray, it might be a dark, moody print in which the brightest area is a middle gray, it might be a "normal" print in which there are detailed dark shadows and bright highlights, or it might be something in between any of those things.

Adams' explanation and use of the zone system was pretty simple and IMHO not too detailed. It was Minor White et al who made it so complicated that many people just found it more trouble than it was worth to use.

[Preston]

"But the goal of the zone system isn't just to get a printable negative, it's to allow you to make the print you want to make with the least possible effort."

Quite true, Brian. I used the Zone System consistently when I was doing B&W, and still use it for color. The Zone System's ultimate goal was to aid in visualizing the final print using a standardized set of materials and procedures that one devloped through testing.

I also found that Adam's explanation of the system to be quite clear. The Negative and The Print were my bibles.

The key is to develop a system that works for you (rhetorical) and to use it consistently.

I use a spot meter exlusively. I find that it's use gives me the best results, especially with color transparency films.

--P

[tgtaylor]

For general scenic landscape photography I have found that the quickest and most sure-fire method of metering is simply taking a reading off a gray card placed in the same light as the view with my Pentax 1-degree spot meter and, after checking around the scene with the spot meter to see how that setting is going to work out, going with that. In 99% of the time that setting works perfectly and gives beautiful negatives.

To determine what object out there is "middle gray," simply compare it with the gray card. Is is brighter, darker, or about the same as the card? Click on it and find out.

For non-standard lighting situation, you determine how bright or dark an object is to be.

Thomas

[Chuck P.]

Adams' explanation and use of the zone system was pretty simple and IMHO not too detailed. It was Minor White et al who made it so complicated that many people just found it more trouble than it was worth to use.

Amen! Thank you for shedding light on the truth! I've heard so much crap about AA and the ZS from from so many that just don't get it.

[David_Senesac]

I'm an old landscape photographer. The most difficult skill necessary to be successful with view cameras is being able to successfully expose sheet film. Especially if that is narrow latitude transparency film like the Provia I shoot exclusively. Unlike smaller film formats or digital, sheet film and its processing is way too expensive for ordinary peons to have the luxury of bracketing. And setting up and taking shots can be so time consuming and elements like clouds or calm can be so fleeting that often one really only has one momentary chance to take a single shot. So the challenge is to get it right most of the time. Accordingly, I think that only a small percentage of outdoor photographers could ever be successful using big sheet film. Especially those that have not paid their dues of lots of experience in the field.


I almost never bracket even for important shots unless conditions are below EV12 in which case I have on occasion. For many years in the 80s and early 90s I used a 35mm SLR camera shooting Kodachrome with spot metering and learned when it was useful and when it didn't matter. I really did not need spot metering most of the time much as BrianShaw related. Same as today even though my 4x5 meter can meter in spot too. Instead I mainly take ambient readings of the sun and sky while considering how that will expose the specific landscape I am framing. All my thinking is in EV levels. During most days one has to become skilled at shooting scenery in the EV14 to EV15.2 range.

My main point here is that yes one can use spot metering most of the time as many suggest, but there are other techniques being used by some of us that are also very successful. So skill with a spot meter is not a necessity. However it is the one exposure method for which a new photographer might receive the most community support.