Exposure Problems?

[cstirlingbartholomew]

I was looking for "the other palace" and ended up on the DPReview forum for Olympus DSLRs. There was a heated discussion about "exposure problems" with the E410 which was kind of amusing. Can't understand why these folks don't get a library copy of A.Adams or Minor White on the zone system and read the thing cover to cover. That should be a minimum reqirement before you are permitted to discuss exposure in a public forum.

These people turn on the built in meter and then point and shoot at whatever is in front of them and then complain that the camera is under/over exposing.:smile:

Clay

[Hokuto]

"armed and dangerous" :wink:

[JamesD]

Yup, Clay, absolutely.

This was in the paper the other day.
I got a laugh.

http://www.comics.com/comics/pearls/archive/images/pearls2073317070508.gif

[Hokuto]

"I just press the little doohickey"

which is the next step after this:
http://web.mac.com/aaronandpatty/iWeb/What%20the%20Duck/Images/WTD175.gif

[cstirlingbartholomew]

Thank you for the cartoons.

I used to think incident light readings were more or less bomb proof. But they really don't tell you anything about the light coming from your subject. If your subject matter has no spectral highlights and the tonal range is broad (five stops or more) an incident reading does a good job of giving you a place to start. That is, a reading for your first test shot. But more and more I am leaving my gossen meter home and just using the histogram and highlight warning as guides. Even then I make some errors. The camera's histogram is crude and little patches of blown highlights do not show up as more than a tiny bump on the histogram. The highlight warning suffers from the same problem. It your blocked highlights are small you can miss them.

If the light is changing rapidly and your subject isn't stationary then things get kind of complicated. We have lots of days here when the sun is half in and half out of the clouds all day long and your exposures are jumping around two or three stops, on days like this an incident reading can be helpful because it can tell you the amount of change you are dealing with from the light source.

The most difficult issue in exposure is the reflectivity of your subject matter. When you are shooting similar subjects over and over again under similar circumstances you learn how to deal with different levels of reflectivity. Chrome, glass and water (anything wet) are all notorious for causing problems. But flat surfaces can also be confusing. When your incident reading and your reflected reading are way out of sync it is a good indication that your subject isn't reflecting at a "normal" level. At this point test shots are required to evaluate the circumstances.

enough,

thank you

Clay

[jebir]

Can't understand why these folks don't get a library copy of A.Adams or Minor White on the zone system and read the thing cover to cover.

What's the zone system? I never needed it in film days - even less in digital days. It is so easy to use manual exposure, the histogram, and then just shoot along... up or down a stop depending on the mood of the sun/clouds of the day.

Cheers, Jens.

[cstirlingbartholomew]

I am sure that there are alternatives to the zone system that work just as well. I am not and never was an Ansel Adams or Minor White disciple. But as a system for analysis of grayscale the zone system works well and is easy enough to understand. If you know how to handle textured whites, shadow detail and mid-tone values. If you know why you cannot use your built in meter to shoot a white wall or a black lab then you are already to some extent dealing with the grayscale problem and can live without the zone system.

Having said all that, the fastest and most pain free way for a new photographer to get a handle on grayscale is to read the classics. I read Minor White's book 35 years ago and in a matter of a few weeks I was taking much better photographs.

Clay

[Hokuto]

I found the zone system great--not as a "bible", but as a general outline of how exposure and development worked. The zone system in its "purity" can only be applied to sheet film, one exposure at a time, but as a general theory it provides a good basis for understanding how to adjust exposures and development.

[cstirlingbartholomew]

I totally agree. Not a bible but a framework for understanding the issues.

I suspect that today one could get to the same place by reading Scott Kelby or some other PP guru. However, Kelby assumes that you already understand how to use your camera.

thank you,

Clay

[refiningman]

which is the next step after this:
http://web.mac.com/aaronandpatty/iWeb/What%20the%20Duck/Images/WTD175.gif

Yes, I call these all-auto cameras PhD cameras - "Push Here Dummy".

Peter