Can we talk about metering for color neg landscapes?

**sperdynamite** · 9-Jul-2015, 17:57

Originally Posted by Preston

If your sky is clear blue, and above the horizon--no clouds, then you might consider placing that value at Zone VI. Closer to the horizon, the sky will be brighter. A clear north sky will be about Zone V. If there are clouds, place the highest values at Zone VII, to start with.

Yes, you certainly could place a significant low value on Zone III, but you'd have to check your significant highest values to see where they fall. Color neg film will hold detail across a very wide range, but the limiting factor will be what you could pull with a scan. In my own color neg work, with my Microtek scanner, I can hold detail from Zone III to Zone VII-1/2 on Portra 160.

--P

Right, it didn't occur to me to try and relate the color tone to grey. Of course a darker blue would be more like Zone V. Great tip!

**Kirks518** · 9-Jul-2015, 19:20

Originally Posted by sperdynamite

Sounds easy haha! I only have a spot and an incident at the moment so I gotta be a little picky with it. :-)

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a spot meter a reflectance (reflected light) meter?

jp · 9-Jul-2015, 19:41

I incident meter everything (color and BW). It's not like slide film, you've got plenty of latitude especially if you're scanning the negatives. You can adjust the colors so much you don't remember what you started with too. For that reason, a DSLR reference shot with a manually selected white balance is a nice reference to have, even though it does not have the style of LF qualities or big dynamic range you are after.

Where you headed in Maine? Most of my photos are in Maine. Feel free to search my photostream for things like Portra https://www.flickr.com/photos/13759696@N02/ A LF photographer who did color well in Maine was Eliot Porter, but you wouldn't know he did it well unless you see a first edition of one his books (sometimes found at libraries) or the dye transfer prints he was known for. I think his kodachrome style can be replicated by taming the contrast of Ektar in or post scanning, or slightly boosting the saturation of Portra once scanned.

**Bill_1856** · 9-Jul-2015, 20:13

f:16@1/ISO.

**sperdynamite** · 10-Jul-2015, 06:24

Originally Posted by Kirks518

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a spot meter a reflectance (reflected light) meter?

You're right that it is a reflected reading but just generally pointing a 1 degree spot at the ground would be not as reliable as a general reflected lightmeter with a wider reading area. At that point you're just picking zones anyways so just go all the way.

**sperdynamite** · 10-Jul-2015, 06:25

Originally Posted by jp

I incident meter everything (color and BW). It's not like slide film, you've got plenty of latitude especially if you're scanning the negatives. You can adjust the colors so much you don't remember what you started with too. For that reason, a DSLR reference shot with a manually selected white balance is a nice reference to have, even though it does not have the style of LF qualities or big dynamic range you are after.

Where you headed in Maine? Most of my photos are in Maine. Feel free to search my photostream for things like Portra https://www.flickr.com/photos/13759696@N02/ A LF photographer who did color well in Maine was Eliot Porter, but you wouldn't know he did it well unless you see a first edition of one his books (sometimes found at libraries) or the dye transfer prints he was known for. I think his kodachrome style can be replicated by taming the contrast of Ektar in or post scanning, or slightly boosting the saturation of Portra once scanned.

I am going to rely a bit on the forgiveness of portra. I just wanted to do a better job from the get go of metering and placing my exposure for my desired look. Great work in Maine! I can't wait to get up there and see what I can do.

**sperdynamite** · 24-Jul-2015, 13:45

So I just want to say thanks for all your replies. I got my film back from Maine and my exposures look great! I did run into some out-of-coverage range with my 300mm Sinaron which surprised me, because I was only using the slider on my Deardorff's front standard, but I'll just have to be more careful in the future. Ektar 100 in large format is really a dream film! I ordered my mounting station for my V700 from better scanning and I'm working on building an 8x10 frame DIY. I haven't shot much LF since college, but after these results, I'm happy to be back!