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  #1  
Old 21st June 2010, 08:27 PM
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Default Exposure options - Contrasty Light

Hi and good evening,

I'd be interested in hearing your views on which is the better option for taking photographs in bright contrasty light; mid-day sun with B&W film.

Unfortunatly, most of my current assignments seems to start at 1-2pm lunch time when the sun often casts big shadows with extreme contrast ranges.

Currently using APX/Rollei Retro 100 and Acros 100 and developing in Fotospeed FD10. I have D76 and Rodinal on hand but I've never used these 2 developers myself.

a)
Reduce camera ISO by one stop and cut development

b)
Stay at ISO 100 and under-expose in-built camera meter on manual, so the image is not so bright on the negative or over-expose neg as it assumes 18% mid gray, but shouldn't matix take care of that.

c)
Use something like Rodinal. I heard it can compressed contrast, is this true?

d)
Use an external incident light meter, would I still need to compensate?

At present, I spending more time on dodging/burning - maybe the contast range is too great for the film in this sort of weather?

I used both in-camera matrix and center weighted which I metered on manual from a mid-tones, wood fencing, brickwork, path. etc

Today, I was along a river bank (very pleasent project) watching the boats in a parade which had lots of bright white paintwork and those which were moored had dark shadows from over-hanging trees and embankment.

I know my question is a sort of basic photographic principles but most of the time I choose better shooting weather so any tips are most welcomed particularly in for this weeks sunny summer sunshine.

Sorry if this post seems a lot of questions, but I'm looking for a better working approach to this situation.

I suppose, I have a fairly limited experience with this sort of weather, I try to go out and shoot on over-cast days.

Cheers and many thanks

Larry
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Old 22nd June 2010, 06:04 AM
Richard L Richard L is offline
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a!
Poor time of day for many things when the sun is out. You could try Foma 100 film. Some folks find it naturally 'flat' - Also with Rodinal try a more gentle, slower agitation.
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  #3  
Old 22nd June 2010, 07:52 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry View Post
Hi and good evening,

I'd be interested in hearing your views on which is the better option for taking photographs in bright contrasty light; mid-day sun with B&W film.

Unfortunatly, most of my current assignments seems to start at 1-2pm lunch time when the sun often casts big shadows with extreme contrast ranges.

Currently using APX/Rollei Retro 100 and Acros 100 and developing in Fotospeed FD10. I have D76 and Rodinal on hand but I've never used these 2 developers myself.

a)
Reduce camera ISO by one stop and cut development

b)
Stay at ISO 100 and under-expose in-built camera meter on manual, so the image is not so bright on the negative or over-expose neg as it assumes 18% mid gray, but shouldn't matix take care of that.

c)
Use something like Rodinal. I heard it can compressed contrast, is this true?

d)
Use an external incident light meter, would I still need to compensate?

At present, I spending more time on dodging/burning - maybe the contast range is too great for the film in this sort of weather?

I used both in-camera matrix and center weighted which I metered on manual from a mid-tones, wood fencing, brickwork, path. etc

Today, I was along a river bank (very pleasent project) watching the boats in a parade which had lots of bright white paintwork and those which were moored had dark shadows from over-hanging trees and embankment.

I know my question is a sort of basic photographic principles but most of the time I choose better shooting weather so any tips are most welcomed particularly in for this weeks sunny summer sunshine.

Sorry if this post seems a lot of questions, but I'm looking for a better working approach to this situation.

I suppose, I have a fairly limited experience with this sort of weather, I try to go out and shoot on over-cast days.

Cheers and many thanks

Larry
Reducing exposure will only reduce or eliminate shadow detail, the accepted practice would be to increase exposure to allow for a reduction in development which will reduce contrast, there are other methods including increasing dilution of the developer which has a compensating effect or pre exposure which involves giving a very slight exposure through a piece of opal acryllic or similar material.
I would recommend you read Ansel Adams 'The Negative' or a similar book for detailed info.

Good luck
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Old 22nd June 2010, 08:29 AM
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A staining developer such as Peter Hogan's Prescysol should help here. If you use Rodinal use it at the higher dilutions such as 1 - 50 to 1 - 100. I would also avoid films in the 25 ISO to 50 ISO range as they are more contrasty in these conditions. But best all avoid shooting in the open in strong over head sunlight if at all possible. Try to seek out some shade or a shady area, or wait if possible for a cloud to move in front of the sun.

Neil.
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Old 22nd June 2010, 02:25 PM
Richard L Richard L is offline
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Maybe what Larry meant was reduce ISO say from 100 to 50. Good starting point. Then less dev. ID-11 would be OK.
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Old 22nd June 2010, 02:48 PM
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Larry, use your flash! This is the only remedy to fight harsh/contre-jour light.

Miha
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Old 22nd June 2010, 09:32 PM
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Many thanks for the helpful tips and suggestions.

I will try out some of them to see which option works best for me and my workflow. I'll let you know how I get on. However, I do NOW concur 100% the simplest and most practical option would be to avoid contrasty mid-day shooting in sunny weather if at all possible, alas sometimes I don't have a choice.

Cheers to all who responded - much appreciated.

Larry

Last edited by Larry; 22nd June 2010 at 09:33 PM. Reason: missing word
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Old 24th June 2010, 04:02 PM
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Rob Archer Rob Archer is offline
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Another trick I often use in bright, contrasty conditions is to downrate the film by 1 stop (e.g. 100 - 50) and develop in Stoecklers 2-bath, a ver simple home brew.

see: http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.or...read.php?t=640

Rob
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Old 24th June 2010, 08:31 PM
DougHowk DougHowk is offline
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You can just take the picture and try to handle the resulting high contrast negative in the darkroom. The darkroom techniques would include pre-flashing the paper and water bath.
For pre-flashing you would need to determine the level of detectable gray, and stay below that exposure time.
For water bath, you would visually determine when blacks are OK, then pull from developer and place in tray of water without agitation. The highlights will continue to develop.
Its definitely easier for printing to get a properly exposed negative, but sometimes you may want to capture all the information and deal with the high contrast later.
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Old 25th June 2010, 08:23 AM
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I would go with Rob, but use Barry Thornton's two-bath (a variation on Stoeckler) - very easy to mix and very easy to use.
http://www.photosensitive.ca/wp/archives/115
I was recently using TMY2 shot at EI 200 through the midday period (actually exposing shadows on Zone IV!) and in most shots contrast has been handled beautifully. You would think you'd end up with well-blown highlights, but not so.
It's funny, but not many people seem to go on much about this formula, but it really is very good indeed - I've used it a lot in the past few years. It is quite sensitve to agitation in the second bath - I gently agitate for 40 seconds and then leave it for the rest of the 5 minutes - it gives me a slightly denser negative but I prefer that.
Phil
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