How many shots per subject? Am I crazy?

[jdavis]

Reality check needed here - I am finding that I consistently have to take 4-5 shots of any given setup in the field to get one usable, with adequate exposure levels. Is this common?

For instance, I was out at Mount St. Helens on Monday taking some landscape shots (by the way - what a wonderful place to hike - try the Norway Pass trail along Spirit Lake - fantastic!!) and had enough uncertainty over exposure levels and/or filter factors that I would take 6 shots of a scene. Needless to say I ran out of film way too soon!

How much bracketing do you use to ensure a good take home shot?

[Gordon Moat]

Normally one shot, but on rare occaissions two. A more common approach I might use would be one shot in landscape orientation, and a second at the same exposure done in portrait orientation. I normally use E-6 films, so exposure accuracy is important.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[Michael Gordon]

Sounds like you may need to hit the books, Jack. I don't bracket at all and get what I need from the one and only exposure.

[Kevin Crisp]

You should not need to do this. Learn how to expose and take one, or two at the most. The Zone VI Workshop book is a good way to start. Take the time and do the testing and stop wasting film; the exposure is the easy part, figuring out where to place and aim the camera is the hard part. (I am assuming you are using B&W materials in my book suggestion.) Kodak also has a publication on line about how to meter that covers basic use of reflecting and incidents light meters and if you follow that (even with no spot meter on hand) you can get good negatives. If you tell us how you meter a scene I am sure you can get suggestions on how to improve what you're doing now.

[Bill_1856]

Shooting B&W, Color negative, or color trannies?

[Ron Marshall]

For b/w and C41 only one shot. For E6 I have sometimes braketed for important shots, 1/2 stop in each direction.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I normally only bracket with color transparencies, just because there can be a range where two or three exposures, 1/3 stop apart, are all "correct" in some sense, but the emphasis may be different. I don't bracket B&W.

If you process your own film, you might take two shots, process one and keep one in reserve if the first one doesn't work.

[jdavis]

Okay - more details because it seems obviously I am screwing up. For instance, take a scene ath Mount St. Helens - mountain in the background, lake in the middle, with stump of a tree in the foreground. Using Velvia 100.

I usually meter the tree, then the mountain and compare. Most likely they are 1-2 stops different, especially if the sky around the mountain is bright. What I will often due is one of two things, split the difference and bracket each way - or expose one shot for the tree, one for the mountain, then hope for the best.

[Randy Redford]

Based on your last comment, it seems that a graduated ND may be the answer. With that, meter for the tree and use the ND to equal out the brighter sky. Works for me. With chromes, I would suggest a 2 and 3 stop soft ND.

[Eric Leppanen]

For B&W, I shoot two shots at the same calculated exposure. I then process the first shot at my calculated development time; based on how this shot turns out, I process the second shot, possibly increasing or decreasing development time to produce a better result.

For color chrome, I also shoot two shots, or I may bracket if the lighting is especially tricky and I want leeway for interpreting the final result. Usually I will bracket plus and minus a half stop; rarely do I need to bracket more than that.

For color neg, I shoot two shots, one at my calculated exposure, and the other at plus one stop. Color neg has far more leeway in overexposure than underexposure, so I like to see how far I can open up the shadows without blowing the highlights.

If you need six shots to nail a scene, then you need to brush up on your exposure calculation skills. Here are some books and resources that I found to be quite helpful:

B&W:
Zone System: Step-by-Step Guide for Photographers (by Brian Lav)
Zone System for 35mm Photographers (by Carson Graves)

Color:
Perfect Exposure: Jim Zuckerman's Secrets to Great Photographs (by Jim Zuckerman)
http://www.photonaturalist.com/chromazone/index.html

[Ron Marshall]

Velvia cannot capture a large of range of light intensity.

There are several options: As Randy mentioned, Use a ND-grad; expose for the highlights and loose shadow detail; use negative film.

[Leonard Evens]

I do only color negative or b/w film, and I normally make only one exposure. With negative film, exposure is seldom a problem since a slight overexposure in tricky situation is innocuous.

[jnantz]

sometimes one sometimes 2
if it is for a job, more than one ..

[John Kasaian]

IMHO it would depend on your purposes. If I were photographing for a client I'd hedge my bets and take as many polaroids as I thought neccesary. For my own purposes with 8x10 I'll take one, rarely two shots---unless the subject was something very rare and fleeting and I realized I goofed up (like by leaving the shutter open) I might take a third try. I figure my photography is like baseball:three strikes and yer out...or wing shooting where you only get two shots...or black powder muzzleloaders where one shot is all you get.

[David_Senesac]

Hi Jack,

I too rarely bracket, just exposing a single sheet per subject. I talk about that in some detail on this current thread here:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=19634&page=3

I would expect that many photographers that have been relying on automatic exposure features typically on smaller format cameras will not do well shooting large format transparencies outdoors where there is often quite a range of light levels on a range of subject elements until they pay some dues to experience. I can't imagine a novice just using some kind of mechanical mathematical formula with a digital light meter to be able to evaluate where they ought to be setting exposure on every shot. Your experience is likely rather common and perhaps a reason many that have dabled with the big view cameras quickly go back to the smaller cameras. Per my above link, after I've taken readings, I always consider what elements of the scene are important, where and how they appear in the scene, and then adjust my aperture more or less open. Being off by 1/3 stop is of course likely to produce a mediocre result with slide films so there is not much room for error. With LF the price of film is rather high so it is an inefficient medium to be experimenting in. I started out long ago during the days of manual everything and spent many years with one of the early spot meter SLRs. Doing so with a roll of 35mm on an SLR that allows manual settings to aperture and shutter speed while using a digital light meter would likely bring you up to speed faster without being so expensive. ...David

[CXC]

I never bracket. I shoot in broad daylight, metering on sky or grass or cement as 50% grey. Sometimes I overexpose.

Do you most often miss in one particular direction, over or under exposing? If so, that might tell you something about your metering technique.

I also compare my meter reading with the exposure suggested by Sunny16. If they are way different,I stop and try to think about why that might be, and if I might be making a mistake.

[Frank Petronio]

20-30 for a portrait ;-)

[matthew blais]

I always take twom usually same exposure. Seems kinda silly to me to travel/hike/set-up and take one shot. Murphy is always around the corner or looking over my shoulder.

[Brian Ellis]

I make one photograph, that's it, unless there's something about the scene that makes me uncertain. For example with moving water I might make two at different shutter speeds since I'm uncertain of exactly how the water will look.

Are you using negative film or slide film? If you're using negative film it shouldn't be difficult to make a decent exposure in one try. Even if you don't want to learn the full blown zone system or some other system that consistently works for you, and even if you refuse to do any testing at all, rate the film at half the manufacturer's speed, meter the darkest shadow area in which you want detail, stop down one stop, make the photograph, develop normally. If you find that you're getting consistently overexposed negatives bump your rated speed up to the manufacturer's speed. If you're getting consistently underexposed negatives (though that's very unlikely with this system) cut the speed in half again.

That very simple system should get you a printable negative almost every time, maybe not the optimum negative, maybe not the negative that's easiest to print, and certainly not a "creative" negative, but the negative will almost always be printable. And even if on rare occasions you find that the negative isn't printable, you've lost only one image. Think how many potential images you're losing when you run out of film after making only a couple photographs of five or six sheets each.

[Leonard Metcalf]

I'm a one shot lad too... unless as Brian pointed out I may experiment with depth of field or length of exposure. Occasionally I shoot a couple of sunsets as the light often gets better and I wonder if I can do better than the last shot. In 100 shots I would only do this once or twice.

I take the Zen approach in that if it doesn't turn out, well it wasn't meant to be... and don't worry about it.... With this in mind if I want an image too much I often find it is the one that doesn't work out right...

Len

[Gordon Moat]

20-30 for a portrait ;-)

That is when a roll film back really helps.

[Capocheny]

Usually 2 shots of the same subject matter but at differing f-stop &/ shutter speeds.

Process one sheet and look at the results to determine whether it needs more/less development time

Process the second sheet depending on the above!

Cheers

[Frank Petronio]

"That is when a roll film back really helps."

Nah, I just tell the second assistant to go load up another 30 holders, just like Avedon.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I remember when I was just starting out in LF, I used to expose about four sheets of one subject because I wasn't sure. I rarely take two of the same scene these days. The only time I do is if I cannot go back to a particular location for a long time.
How long have you been doing LF photography for?
Mt. St. Helens sounds like a really cool place. I've always wanted to go there. Thanks for the tip...maybe I can convince my group, The Vancouver 6 to take a trip there...YA LISTENING, CAPOCHENY?? DENIZ??? STEVE??? JOHN???

[Capocheny]

...maybe I can convince my group, The Vancouver 6 to take a trip there...YA LISTENING, CAPOCHENY?? DENIZ??? STEVE??? JOHN???

Hey Andrew,

I'm open...

Hey, you left out ole Lorne! :)

Cheers

[John Bowen]

Reality check needed here - I am finding that I consistently have to take 4-5 shots of any given setup in the field to get one usable, with adequate exposure levels. Is this common?

Jack, now I know why there are reports of film sales being on the rise. ;) All of us appreciate your contributions to film based photography. You just keep on shootin' good buddy.

Seriously, though 2 exposures of each scene...same exposure, I just like having an extra negative in case one has dust or suffers from a light leak or some such defect.

[John Bowen]

Reality check needed here - I am finding that I consistently have to take 4-5 shots of any given setup in the field to get one usable, with adequate exposure levels. Is this common?

Jack, now I know why there are reports of film sales being on the rise. ;) All of us appreciate your contributions to film based photography. You just keep on shootin' good buddy.

Seriously though, for 8x10 I take 2 exposures of each scene...same exposure, I just like having an extra negative in case one has dust or suffers from a light leak or some such defect. For 4x5 I will follow Fred Picker's recommendation of one for "n" and one for N+1 1/2 development....this gives a choice of negatives for fixed grade printing....not really necessary if you use a VC head when printing. For 35mm transparencies, I will bracket 1/2 stop each direction.

Best,

[Ed Richards]

First question - are any of these six exposures right? If so, then the next step is figure out if there is any pattern in the right ones. This means you have to keep records and be able to identify each sheet of film to match it to the exposure. I notch my holders in binary, if you have another way to keep track, you can use it. Then keep shooting your six exposures for a few times and figure out what is going on. It may be that you are hitting it everytime with the metered exposure and just do not know it.:-) Or you might be over or under everytime. Or perhaps you have an unreasonable expectations for what you can do with Velvia on high contrast scenes. Haul a DSLR with you and use the historgram to figure out what is going on in the scene, since they are pretty close to slide film.

[Scott Knowles]

Reality check needed here - I am finding that I consistently have to take 4-5 shots of any given setup in the field to get one usable, with adequate exposure levels. Is this common? How much bracketing do you use to ensure a good take home shot?

How much did you bracket? If you're taking the same scene with the same exposure, one, maybe two if you like it or think there is a problem, should suffice. In defense of taking more, and yes reading the books on exposure helps, sometimes it's a learning curve situation. Experience obviously helps, but sometimes you need to learn or try things, so more than 2 different exposures helps. We don't all start 4x5 work with a full brain of experience, only from our other format experience.

And by the way, I watched a photographer take a dozen shots of the same scene before he gave up. It was of a flower alongside the highway in Mt. Rainier NP with traffice whizzing by and the wind gusting around him. He takes photos for his wife's biology text books and he needed this shot. After a dozen exposure where we tried all sorts of windblocks, he said, "I give up, we'll go with the best one."

Good luck.

[Colin Robertson]

Hi Jack. Since nobody starts with LF, you must have prior experience in some smaller format. Was that with some kind of TTL or even auto-exposure? Also, am I right in thinking you want to shoot reversal film? You said that you measured 'from the tree, from the lake etc'- so are you spot metering??
Here would be my sugestions. First, use one film and one lens (avoids shutter discrepancies). Next- try incident metering for a while. All reflected light meters will try to render whatever tone they are pointed at mid-grey (18%, zone V, whatever). SO, if you misjudge from where to meter you will screw the exposure. For years I used only incident metering on 120 rol film. It really works. Now in LF I'm (newly) using a spot meter. Yeah, it's great for assesing the RANGE of tones in a scene, but provides a fine way to get it wrong.
Take an incident meter on a flat, evenly lit day. Shoot a few frames as metered. If they turn out as you expected, job done. If they are all CONSISTENTLY a little over or under, change the meter ASA a little and try again. You might be very pleasantly surprised at just how close you can get every time. Good luck.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Hey, you left out ole Lorne!

oops! Sorry Lorne...aaaah, he never read these posts anyway!

[windpointphoto]

How much did it cost to get to Mount St. Helens? Film's cheap in the long and short run. It'll also give you the option to process differently if you chose. A back up is never a bad thing.

[Jim Jones]

An interviewer asked Ansel Adams if he bracketed his exposure. His reply was something like, "No, I do it right the first time." He then added, "Sometimes I take an insurance shot at the same exposure." Unlike Saint Ansel, I do bracket in some conditions, especially if the cost of film is a small part of the total cost in getting the photo. It would be better to do like Ansel, get it right the first time. Only then bracket if not absolutely certain. Study those bracketed exposures and consider them as a valuable part of the learning process.

[David_Senesac]

Van Camper, concerning your surprise many of us just expose single sheets.

Commenting on just my recent work, this fall chasing leaf scenery during three road trips over 18 days, I've exposed about 130 sheets of Provia out in the field. Most were exposed in sunny conditions though also in various more dim situations of diffuse and cloudy light, and a few in the dim light of sunrise, sunset, dawn and dusk. Only a small number of those shots have been off in exposure more than about 1/3 stop and really not many have been off 1/6 stop. In either case being off by 1/3 stop is usually close enough that a drum scan would not have much trouble recovering the image enough to be able to post process the file to end up looking like the actual experience lumininance. Though if I ever start seeing many off that much I am likely to bracket more. I do bracket very occasionally if the shot is exceptionally important and I am a bit uncertain about the result. However that has rarely proved necessary and as a result almost all the top images on my home page index are single shot scenes. From an hour after sunrise to an hour before sunrise which is typically between EV14.0 and 15.5 I just have few worries about getting it wrong. And of course as light gets dimmer setting the exposure correctly becomes more problematic. I certainly do tend to shoot less during the magic hour periods when that is the case. So to answer your question, I don't need to waste the time to take a second shot, nor the nominal cost of the film and development for the way my work has been going, the way I do it. Simple as that. ...David

[Bruce Watson]

Anyone who says they do it in 1 shot is a liar, bragging, or a fool....I DON'T BELIEVE IT.

You know, I'm getting tired of people being jerks like this. Your belief isn't necessary nor required. Your belief or lack thereof won't change reality.

The reality is that I can and do take a single exposure for most every shot I take. I'll only take a second exposure if there is motion in the frame (moving clouds for example, or wind moving vegetation) or if I want to see the trade off between different apertures. In all cases, the exposure is the same. I never bracket.

I can work this way because I've paid plenty of dues. I've educated my tail off, I've exposed thousands of sheets of film and made countless prints.

Van Camper, you owe us all an apology. You don't know most of us. You certainly don't know me. You don't have any facts on which to base your accusations. Your behavior is atrocious and reflects badly on all LF photographers. I'm ashamed for you.

[GPS]

I laughed. What is for some of us completely normal - not to bracket - is for someone else completely incomprehensible... Bruce, I wouldn't take it so seriously. I came recently from a mountain trip with a load of pictures of a glacier, crevasses, white and gray scale, reflected light etc. I don't bracket - but I laugh...

[GPS]

Obviously, you came to this thread with your heavy artillery to save the poor amateur, asking a question, his life. But bracketing like crazy is not the way to learn proper metering, neither is it especially useful advice. When I was an amateur I never bracketed either - I foolishly believed the film was expensive. But I learned the proper metering quicker with this additional motivation. Now, having been shooting for several stock agencies for ca 15 years I don't even need to think about metering, believe it or not. It's as obvious as to load a film. And yes, I take multiple shots (not because of bracketing) of the "same" picture - when I submit the picture to several agencies, when I need two or more formats of it (still not bracketing) or when I like the subject in more than one way. Go figure, but don't try to save my life with foolish bracketing. 1500 pics for an article? Sure, if you have other people to carry your load of films. Hardly practical advice for an amateur. Except if you want to look like a pro shooting for the National Geographic. (The last time I sold them a picture for a 3 digit sum it was a picture I took in 2 different exemplars ( on the same exposure)! Go figure.

[Frank Petronio]

If I know the photo sucks, I just take one sheet too. If it is a great photo I'll shoot all the film I've got.

So maybe it depends on your confidence about your skills and your photo? If I were in a "learning mode" I would just shoot one sheet because that is all I need for feedback about my composition and exposure. Afterall, they are all tossers anyway. But if I know I have a good picture I am damn well going to cover my arse.

[Paul Coppin]

I spotmeter very carefully; will often take 2 if B&W- same exposure, not to bracket, but to correct processing in the second negative if I didn't get the exposure right. Trannies often get bracketed one either side of "optimum", especially if the dynamic range is wide.
Some of the answers given are a bit presumptious - LF shutters are notoriously inaccurate. If the shutter (and film) hasn't been calibrated through its usable range, the light meter is not much use, not until at least a pile of film is shot. Best few hours I ever spent was with a friend's Calumet shutter tester (anyone got one for sale - I want one :) ) - found out and charted a wide range of shutter deviance across the 6 or 7 lenses I regularly use. Many fewer exposure misses as a result.

[tim atherton]

If I know the photo sucks, I just take one sheet too. If it is a great photo I'll shoot all the film I've got.

So maybe it depends on your confidence about your skills and your photo? If I were in a "learning mode" I would just shoot one sheet because that is all I need for feedback about my composition and exposure. Afterall, they are all tossers anyway. But if I know I have a good picture I am damn well going to cover my arse.

I'm with Frank on this - multiple exposures of the scene not necessarily because I think the one shot might not come out, but if it's worth photographing, a number of shots ringing the changes ("working the scene" if you like). Maybe a couple of each for "insurance" (i.e. mechanical failure, darkroom screw-ups, light leaks - which will always happen without fail on the best shot you ever took...) - or if the lighting is particularly iffy.

Which, of course is different from the original question.

[Bruce Watson]

I've also paid my dues for over 35 years….. what an arrogant attitude!

I'll agree with you there -- yours is one of the most arrogant attitudes I've run across. Only you can be right. Everyone else must be lying (your word, not mine). That other people don't work the same way you do shouldn't make you so scared, angry, and defensive. That it does should give you pause.

I'm not criticizing you BTW. I'm criticizing your behavior on this thread. Your behavior is that of a list-bully. Screaming (that all caps thing you did) doesn't work on a list. You can't win by intimidation. There is nothing to win.

Accusing others of lying when they have no reason to lie and nothing to gain is just not rational. It's not acceptable behavior. That you don't recognize this makes me doubly ashamed for you.


It doesn't matter if you think you can consistently nail it with only one shot, it is simply poor advice.

It would be nice if you'd read and try to comprehend a post before you attack it. I didn't offer any advice. I never said that the OP should follow my lead. I did say what works for me.

I suspect that the OP will find after years of working with LF that he'll make fewer and fewer exposures. That the ones he makes are better. That he begins to have more confidence in his exposure calculations. That he has less need for "field duplicates." But I do not and have not said that that's what he *should* do. What he should do, IMHO, is find a workflow with which he is comfortable and use that.

Your rants and my refutations aren't helping the OP, so I'm ending my participation in this thread.

[Sheldon N]

Van -

While I agree with most of the reasons for bracketing in your post, I think a softer approach would benefit everyone.

This is a great community full of knowledgeable people (yourself included) and a little courtesy and thoughfulness goes a long way in helping that knowledge be freely shared in a friendly environment.

:)

[Kirk Gittings]

Normally on a static subject I take two sheets, identical exposure. If i am shooting a landscape with rapidly changing lighting condtions, I will take alot of film, sometimes a dozen sheets. As I watch the relationship between the land and the sky develop and change, I am thinking ahead to what I can do with each negative in terms of contrast, burning, dodging etc. and I will make an exposure with each new condition that I perceive has some print possibilities. On a good day, I will end up with many "almosts" and one that just comes alive.

[darr]

When shooting B&W I take two identical shots and hold one from development just in case I need to make an adjustment. When shooting E-6 films, I bracket because sometimes the + or - exposures may actually turn out to be the better ones, and I do not mean the exposure is completely correct, they just look better. :)

[Brian Vuillemenot]

I'm with Van. I bracket in third stop increments from four stops below to four stops above my meter reading. Then I do a backup of each exposure, just to be sure. ;)

[Dirk Rösler]

A good photographer (who must also be a good businessman) would not leave himself open to such risk. If anything, you should be ashamed to admit that as an artist/businessman you would risk it all to one shot unless the shot is not that important. No one can be 100% certain, therefore it is irresponsible behavior and boastful to say so. You're gambling with your business, and it is foolish to accept unnecessary risk.

In case you haven't noticed already, the requirements of the professional and the amateur are entirely different. Apples and pears, mate. In the case of the non-pro, if there is no impact then there is no risk. You are not wrong in principle, but you're obviously jumping to conclusions. The OP never said he was a pro managing his risk.

I have always said that amateurs enjoy a lot more freedom. And probably lower blood pressure, too.

[GPS]

Did it ever dawned on our policeman who is giving the lectures about irresponsible behavior that many pictures you can't even shoot multiple?
No Jdavis, you're not crazy, you have just uncertainty in measuring. Crazy you will be when you start to take a shot after a shot because after each one you say: this one is for the case of dust on the film; this one for the scratch on the film; this one for the case of loading film incorrectly; this one for the metering error (Oh, that one!); this one for the lost at the lab; this one to resolve the issues of risk; this one for the etc. (oh, the etc. - for the lost of my brain, for the case of a car accident, for the case of a nature disaster etc.) this one for my brother, this one for not being like all those irresponsible photographers who don't take multiple shots and this one for - heck, did I run out of the film so quickly???

[GPS]

Van Camper, if you you click on the small "quote" icon you get the text transfered to you message field and you don't need to write the quoted answers by yourself. You can then delete whatever part of the quote you don't want to have and write whatever you like after. The multiple quotes are a little bit more tricky but someone else may explain that to you too. Much more useful than all the Don Quixote fight for multiple bracketing, in my mind at least. Pity the missed picture of the alien world - what loss for the humanity...

[Kirk Keyes]

Mt. St. Helens sounds like a really cool place. I've always wanted to go there. Thanks for the tip...maybe I can convince my group, The Vancouver 6 to take a trip there...YA LISTENING, CAPOCHENY?? DENIZ??? STEVE??? JOHN???

Let the rest of us know - I'm in Portland and I'm sure others would be interested in meeting up.

Kirk

[Jim Jirka]

I like Bruce only make an additional exposure in windy conditions. I usually only need one exposure to get it right on.

[Kirk Keyes]

I take as many shots as I think I need to nail the shot. If conditions are pretty static, I shot 2 - one to process and one to hold. If it's really windy, or the light is changing or clouds are moving, I take more. If it is a subject that I think I will not be back for a really long time, I bracket - one at my determined exposure, a duplicate, and one bracket under and one over. I do this especially for color transparencies. B&W, I bracket one stop over.

Pull processing with color trannies doens't work too well, even for a half stop pull, but pushing a half stop or stop does usually work.

[Greg Miller]

With Velvia (narrow exposure latitude), there are times when I do not bracket. Usually this would mean very even light and a subject consisting primarily of middle tones. An example of this would be a field of ferns on a light overcast day.

For more complex exposures I will bracket. With Velvia I hardly ever accidentally under xpose so I will usually make 1 shot at what I think is the correct exposure and a 2nd shot underexpsoing from the intial exposure (to protect against an over exposed original).

My guess is you need to understand exposure meters better. Using a spot meter (a spot meter wants to render everything a medium tone), the meter will cause you to underexpose a light tone subject (a pale blue sky) and tell you to over expose a dark tone subject (a dark brom tree stump). In the moutain scenario that you describe, I usually meter the sky and determine the correct exposure to render the sky for the tonality that I want (usually not the exposure the meter tells me; but an exposure I adjust to knowing the meter wants to render the sky a medium tone). Then I do the same for the foreground and mid ground.
Usually want to get the sky to 1 or 2 stops brighter than the fore/mid ground so I will choose a GND filter ot achieve that.

You might want to get a 18% gray card and practice your metering. Put the gray card next to an object so they both have the same light falling on them. Then meter the object and the gray card and see what objects yield a different exposure. Based on that you can learn when to anticipate what objects will fool the meter into giving you the wrong exposure.

[Michael Kadillak]

Rule #1 is to Get To Know Thy Materials (as quickly as possible).

The only way that you can relate this to your photography wheither you chose transparency or negative is to evaluate your results and correlate this back to your exposure, composition and technique (your field notes) that you utilized to achieve the final product. Proof everything. As a function of time, your efficiency should improve dramatically.

I remember reading a long time ago that you will in fact fill a garbage can full of "experience" before you get it down pat, but such is the price of admission. There is nothing quite like a well executed negative and subsequent print and that is the allure to the process in its entirety.

When Kirk talks about changing light these conditions are unique and mandate multiple exposures beause of the element of evolving light that is nearly impossible to react to on the fly. For static lighting conditions and I would add when shooting 8x10 and larger formats, we strive to make one negative and make sure that it has been executed as optimally as possible. After shooting 8x20 and 11x14, 4x5 seems like penny candy and as a result, I tend to not be terribly concerned if I feel the need to burn it when the need arises.

Cheers!

[john borrelli]

I am a weekend photographer who shoots a large percentage of landscape photos around sunset. I would bracket slide film more often for these scenes but the light changes so quickly I have a hard time bracketing fast(and accurately) enough! However, one of my favorite color photos happens to be one of my best Velvia exposures, and for this photo I did have the time to bracket exposures, five exposures altogether made in 1/2 stop brackets. Also, for the type of mountain scene originally described, I agree with the poster that recommended a grad filter. I also think with slide film that having two originals exposed 1/2 stop or 1 stop differently is useful. The "higher" exposure will often print better while the "lower" exposure can be used as a reference to match on the final print. I also hear digital printers are doing weird and wonderful things combining differently exposed photos of the same scene into one "perfect" photograph, the "higher" exposure is used to get rid of that dark foreground and the "lower" exposure is used to get rid of that washed out sky!

[Mr. Doyle]

I think all this talk of a 'better technique' and shooting less film is nonsense. You shoot as much or as little as you yourself think is nessasary wether its one sheet or fifty. If you are serious about photography and want to produce the best possible image and not have the worry of a one shot wonder getting damaged etc then of course you pop off another, or bracket just too make sure.
I see nothing wrong with your technique at all..