Hi, my question; If one wanted to shoot a great cityscape at night but wanted to have a person in the foto how would you do it ? I know the length of exposure for the city itself would be long( maybe 4-8 min). But with a person in the foto and much closer wouldn't the long exposure wash out the detail of the city backdrop ? Or if you got the person right wouldn't the city scape be underexposed ?
Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving
Sorry I got it crossed. What I am wanting to know is how to get the exposure righ on both the person and the cityscape
Flash/strobe light the person. Adjust power to match aperture in use.
Ok, so if i have to expose the city shot for 5 mins? Sorry if I sound stupid but im new to LF dont understand
Matt just use a flash for the person you want to photograph. Continue with the exposure for the city as normal. In fact I'd be inclined to flash at the end of the city exposure.
Just make sure there's nothing bright behind your person (no lights, no illuminated trees, walls, buildings, etc) or they will look like a ghost.Originally Posted by Wayne Crider
Ok, let me see if I've got it,I can be pretty thick at times. For example lets say I am doing an 8 minute exposure on this shot, I could theoreticaly set up the shot have my model pose, take a flaSH exposure, have her step out of the picture and then continue on with the shot right? Making sure that it is a dark backdrop for my model.
Thanks for all the help, I know us newbees can get frustrating.
Happy Thanksgiving, Matt
Once the strobe fires, the exposure for the model is fixed. At that moment, she could walk out of the scene, and your exposure could continue. However, if you have other light sources in the scene, though could cause ghosting of the model. One that is sometimes forgotten is the modelling light in the strobe. This works whether it is large format film, medium format, small format, or digital capture . . . basically the technique is not tied to a camera system.
Figuring out settings will only come from trying set-ups. You need a great deal of light control to restrict where the strobe illuminated. Another approach is doing two shots without moving the camera, and combine the results later in post, though it will often look more realistic when done in one shot in-camera.
Ciao!
Gordon Moat Photography
Same exact technique applies with your smaller format and digital cameras, so use them to experiment with. Sans Polaroid, getting a pleasing balance between flash and ambient light will take some bracketing and trial and error.
Also note that long exposures with digital are different than film, and even different films respond to longer exposures differently. Google "reciprocity". Not to scare you off -- you can get close enough for success with educated guesses -- but practice makes perfect.
Hello,,, Use your flash on the model with entended aperture to match flash out-put then just have the model stay in that spot and keep her or his pose till you have your final exposure.. Shouldn't be to difficult for a model to hold a pose.. I know some models that can hold a pose for hours for sculptures
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