 BetterPhoto Member |
Judging a Print for Exposure To judge a print for exposure, what do I look for?
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Michael H. Cothran |
"Proper" exposure is one which gives you adequate detail where YOU WANT it. In most cases, pay particular attention to the very bright areas and very dark areas. Judge these for the amount of detail you see. In most cases, with color film or digital cameras, and especially in very contrasty lighting situations, like outdoors in bright sunlight, your camera will only be able to hold detail in either the bright highlights or the deep shadows, but not both. It's your call here, but the general consensus among better photographers is to be sure you hold detail in the highlights, and let the shadows darken as they may. With B&W film, it is very possible to get details in both, providing you expose for the shadows, and develop for the highlights. This does not work with color film or digital capture. Furthermore, you can judge exposure based upon your creative intentions. Perhaps you are going for a dark, moody image, or something like that nature. Michael H. Cothran www.mhcphoto.net
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Michael H. Cothran |
Also, FYI - Black & white film normally has 9 or 10 "zones" of gray between black and white, so its tonal range is very broad. Color film, and digital capture have 5-6 "zones" of brightness between black and white. Thus their tonal range is more limited than b&w film. This shortness of tonal range requires more diligence on the part of the photographer to carefully meter a scene in order to preserve detail where it is wanted or needed. Michael H. Cothran
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Justin G. |
Michael, would you happen to know an approximate tonal range for digital cameras, or does that vary?
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Michael H. Cothran |
Justin, Assuming you are somewhat familiar with Ansel Adams "Zone System" of exposure, your DSLR camera can expose from about Zone 1.5 up to about Zone 7.5. The distance from one zone to another (i.e., Zone 2-3-4-5-6-7) is ONE FULL STOP. Remember this. Zone 5 is middle gray (RGB 128 in Photoshop). Going down is getting darker (underexposing), and going up is getting lighter (overexposing). This is your working range with just about all DSLR cameras. Here is a subjective definition for each zone in color/digital capture: Zone 1.5 - Paper lack Also, since color/digital is so sensitive to light changes, it is advantageous to think in terms of 1/2 stop increments rather than the full stop increments associated with b&w film.
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