 Michelle L. Gross |
What does anyone think of this picture.
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Piper Lehman |
Hi, Michelle. I'll take you up on that request. First of all, it's obvious that you put a lot of thought into this set-up. Nice work with the props and the background material. I like the casual way things are placed. I also like the direction of light, but I think you need a little more in the shadows. It looks as if a reflector might've helped fill in some of the really dark spots so that your two exposure extremes would've met somewhere in the middle. Because you have a wide latitude here between the lights and the darks (more than the film can handle) your meter has chosen a middle ground and turned everything into a gray tone without much contrast. I am assuming you took an average reading of the entire scene with your matrix or averaging meter. Because of your light and dark extremes, you will have to choose. Spot meter either the darkest part or the lightest area and let the other extreme go its merry way. Of course, there are people here who know a helluva lot more about exposing for black and white film than I do. There are also ways to control contrast in the printing stage, so maybe someone out there can add their expertise in the area to this discussion. Lastly, you could try coloring this with PS (or by coloring the actual print by hand) to give it some "oomph" and boost the contrast. Hope this helps a little.
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Michelle L. Gross |
Thank you so much Piper I am so greatful for the suggetion. I didn't even think about metering just the dark or light. I will try again. Would love you to look at more of my work as I post it. I like your view. Thanks again, Michelle G.
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Piper Lehman |
Michelle, I forgot to ask if this was print film. I'm assuming it is, so you should take a look at your negative before "fixing" anything on the print. The lab will sometimes "average" out your shots with print film because they think any compensation you've used as a creative measure is actually an over or underexposed neg. Chances are, your negative will show a different story than the print. (This is one of the reasons I switched to slide film.) Thanks for the compliment! : )
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Michelle L. Gross |
Piper, It was. I looked at the neg. and it was different. Do you recommend a brand of slide film? Thanks again Michelle G.
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Piper Lehman |
There is only one black and white slide film available, if I'm not mistaken. (I think it's Agfa Scala.) For color, well, that's a tough one. Depends on what you're shooting. If you wanted to do this same set-up on color slide film, I would use Fuji Sensia or Velvia depending on the actual colors of the set-up. Sensia has a more neutral coloring than Velvia (very vivid greens and blues). On the Kodak front, I like E100S and E100VS (think "very saturated"). You can usually find a consumer slide film for any "pro" type except for Velvia, though there are those who will disagree with me on that. Fuji Provia 100 and 400 are also both excellent for fine grain in their speed class. I've used the 400 for portraits--it has a nice tone for skin and hair. Some will argue that the 400's grain rivals that of Velvia. Oh, and I usually rate Velvia at 40 instead of the DX-coded ISO 50, but I did not mess with this on my vacation last month. I was shooting so much with so many different speeds that I was afraid I might forget to set the ISO manually for the other films. Sorry to talk your ear (eyes) off. Once I get started, it's hard to stop me.... :)
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Michelle L. Gross |
Piper, I have to tell you this place I went and shot photos this weekend. I live in Texas and I went to a place called Enchanted Rock. It was great! We had to hike along way up this mountain to get great shots. I used kodak 125 pan. To be honest I was not sure what to buy for the pictures to turn out right because of the fact I had not been in the area before. I am sending them to a special lab here in our town that does it all by hand(for developing. I love this feild. I wish I had all day to shot but the real world has to come in sometime. Planning to go camping up there the next time so I can get the best lighting. The park does not open up till eight. I want to try for some sunrise and sunsets for my black and white house. Thank you for the information on the slide film I am going to try it as soon as I can. I will post some of the pictures as soon as I see the proof sheet and pick out what I like Thanks again Michelle
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Piper Lehman |
Sounds great! Where is Enchanted Rock exactly? I'm in Dallas. Looking forward to seeing your results. :)
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Michelle L. Gross |
Hi Piper! I have been so busy this week that I have not had time to write. The place is outside of Fredrickburg. I am hoping to get the pictures ready this week sometime. It is a huge granite dome. I got some great pictures of a lizard up there, before the tourist got there. Well I will write more and down load the results. Blessed be, Michelle
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Melissa Corkum |
Do you print yourself or have a lab do it? If you're printing yourself, I would try to burn in the really light background sections to bring out some of the great shadows. If you're not printing yourself, go to a good lab and see if they'll do it. B&W negatives are usually pretty forgiving if you use the right printing techniques.
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