Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Mark et al., Actually there really weren't any discrepancies in the advice on the cat exposures if one reads the posts carefully. They may not have all been clear as to what the meter was looking at to make the initial meter reading, but the resultant exposures by all of the suggested methods would end up being within about a stop of each other and well within the printable range of most color neg films today. Also, the original questioner said that he was going to use flash for his photos. That is why my advice was to use a flash meter (generally more reliable), instead of relying on the often-fooled camera meter trying to average everything it "sees" in your frame. Given a consistent light source, if you try and rely on the camera's meter or even the TTL flash setting, you will get varying readings depending upon how much of your viewfinder the black cat actually occupies. This leads to some shots that are exposed correctly and some that are not. Using the camera's meter and entirely filling the frame with the black cat as opposed to filling only half the frame, will give a much different reading. Shooting black cats is NOT a good scenario in which to use the camera's built-in meter on automatic if you want consistent results. Here's my synopsis. If you meter off of a gray card or use the incident reading at the subjects position, OPEN UP 1-2 stops to compensate for the extreme blackness of the fur and the likelihood that the fur will end up underexposed without the help of some extra exposure. Use this setting for all your photos in a fixed/consistent lighting situation when shooting a black furred animal, and you will get consistent exposures from frame to frame that will print easily. Don't open up too much if you are shooting a fair-skinned women and you want to preserve the highlight detail in her face. The hardest thing to shoot would be the fair-skinned women holding the jet-black cat where you needed good detail in both the highlights and the shadows. Welcome to the world of professional photography challenges. Quite fun actually. If you take a reflected reading of the cat using your camera's meter, where the majority of the frame is filled with the black cat, you must STOP DOWN approximately two stops, as has been suggested, because the meter is looking at the cat's black fur and is trying to make the fur look like the 18 percent gray card. This results in an erroneous reading that is often two stops off, which you must compensate for by stopping down (that is why, IMO, reading off the gray card is much more accurate). This opposite metering technique (after stopping down two stops) will generally result in approximately the same exposure as the technique I indicated in the above paragraph, but it will often be inconsistent if you obey what your meter says and you change your exposure as the cat moves closer or farther away from you, and the meter "sees" more or less black fur. Mark- if you think opening up to shoot a black cat is "inexcusable", "weird", "unlucky", or "mind boggelingly pathetic", then you haven't carefully read or understood anything I have said. My advice is absolutely correct and I would gladly debate anyone who wishes to examine the finer points of film exposure. Respectfully, Rob McElroy Buffalo, NY P.S.- Why did your post below come through to the lLUG with the words "nude teens" above your website address? Only curious, nothing more. Mark Rabiner wrote: > On the LUG it's interesting that when someone asks a simple photographic > exposure question 4 out of 5 people give them the exact opposite of the right > advise and two others tell them to use flash. > A 5th said ask the Cats agent. A 6th didn't like cats > Mind boggelingly pathetic! > I think many of us need to stop reading The Leica Collectors Guide or what ever > the hell we are reading and get back to basics; do our homework; and read some > basic photography books. > And take pictures. (accordionly) > > Open up to shoot a black cat!!!???? > Inexcusable!!! > Weird!!!!!! > Unlucky! > > Mark Rabiner > > Portland, Oregon > USA > > nude teens > http://www.rabiner.cncoffice.com/