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Post by droppey on Oct 11, 2009 10:32:31 GMT -5
Hi all
I'm after some advice re exposure. In my readings on photography I often come accross where you expose 2 areas of a scene to get the right exposure for that photo.
This confuses me, so how do I do it and what do I do once I've done it?
Thanks from a continuously confused Droppey ;D
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Post by jimhobson on Oct 11, 2009 13:12:27 GMT -5
Hi, I could be way off on this as to what you read, but that sounds like Zone System.
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Post by droppey on Oct 13, 2009 11:48:22 GMT -5
Pass I have no idea whatsoever ;D
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Post by Steve (FloppyDog) on Oct 13, 2009 12:13:41 GMT -5
Drops, do you mean meter the scene? Sometimes (especially outdoors) photographers meter the illuminated area, then the shaded area, and expose the average between the two. You might have to give a little bit more info. (?)
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Post by droppey on Oct 13, 2009 13:21:50 GMT -5
That's exactly what I meant Flopster - but didn't know how to say it ;D
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Post by NCPhotoTrekker on Oct 13, 2009 13:41:33 GMT -5
Basically what Flop said is right on the money as an answer to your question. The light meter will get an average reading from the whole scene and try to make it all represent as a medium gray. If you switch to spot metering, you can read the darkest and lightest sections. This will tell you the total exposure latitude of the scene. From here you can determine if filters might be needed, or where you want the tonal priority to be. By setting somewhere in the middle of your two readings, you will get an accurate exposure.
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Post by droppey on Oct 14, 2009 13:12:30 GMT -5
So once I've got the readings for the darkest area and the lightest area - how do I then calculate them to get the middle range?
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Post by Steve (FloppyDog) on Oct 14, 2009 14:56:12 GMT -5
Have you ever watched any of the Rocky movies? During one boxing match, Rocky turns to his trainer and says, "I see three of him". His trainer replies, "hit the one in the middle". It's sort of like this.
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Post by droppey on Oct 14, 2009 15:17:18 GMT -5
lmao well i never thought I'd hear photography related to Rocky lol that's tickled me ;D
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Post by Steve (FloppyDog) on Oct 14, 2009 16:48:45 GMT -5
lmao well i never thought I'd hear photography related to Rocky lol that's tickled me ;D ;D I don't know why, but that's the first thing that came to mind. The little voice in the back of my head says, "tell Drops to hit the one in the middle". Once you determine your range (lightest to darkest) you can fine tune your exposure using one of two (or both) ways. You can adjust your shutter speed if you want to keep a particular aperture (you are an Aperture Artist after all). Or , you can adjust your aperture (again, you're an Aperture Artist) if you want to keep a particular shutter speed. Here's a scenario; You're shooting a photo of an old barn, mid day in sunlight. You're shutter speed is set to 1/125, and the meter calls for f/16 in the sunlight and f/5.6 in the shade. The f values between these two are f/8 and f/11. Either of these, f/8 or f/11 would probably do the trick. In this scenario, notice we managed to keep the desired shutter speed.
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Post by juanita on Oct 14, 2009 18:58:20 GMT -5
Wow-another small piece of info fitting the puzzle!!!
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Post by Steve (FloppyDog) on Oct 14, 2009 19:46:53 GMT -5
One might equate exposure with a bucket of water with a hole in the side allowing water to leak out. The size of the hole would be the aperture, and the amount of time the water has to leak out is like the shutter speed. The larger the hole, the less time it takes to empty the bucket. The smaller the hole, more time you need.
Say you wanted to fill a glass. (We'll call this a photograph) We can use a small opening(aperture) as long as we can give it more time(slower shutter speed). If we want to fill it in less time(faster shutter speed), we have to make the hole(aperture) larger. Any combination of hole size(aperture) and time(shutter speed) will work as long as they're balanced properly to fill the glass. We call this balance "proper exposure".
If you have a large opening and/or too much time, the glass spills over(overexposure). If the hole is too small and/or you don't give it enough time, the glass is only partially full(underexposure).
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Post by NCPhotoTrekker on Oct 15, 2009 20:06:24 GMT -5
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Post by droppey on Oct 21, 2009 3:52:50 GMT -5
I really appreciate your help, the more basic someone explains to me the more it sinks in hehe so I'm slowly slowly getting there ;D
And Flopster you do make me chuckle hehe ;D
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