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Camden, Maine

© Brenda Tharp

Camden, Maine

Frank P. Luongo 9/10/2004 12:39:47 PM

Brenda, I love this photo. As I peruse your gallery, I continue to be impressed by your clever use of light. Can I ask what kind of sidelighting you used? Presumably light comes from the right, but at which angle? #167550

Brenda Tharp 9/10/2004 2:31:14 PM

Thanks for the nice comments about my use of light. Of course, that's what photography is, writing with light, so it's great when you can use it to bring out your subjects in a dramatic way. In this case, as in many cases, I don't really pay attention to the actual angle of its direction, but it was somewhere around 60 degrees to my right, maybe less. You can see that the light is hitting both the sides of the building, but not the boats, because the angle they were to the light. Hope this helps! #767969

Frank P. Luongo 9/22/2004 2:58:07 PM

Thanks Brenda!
For promptly responding to my questions.
Your responses are very insightful.

Frank #798478

Frank P. Luongo 11/29/2004 3:57:40 PM

Brenda,where did you take your meter reading for this scene?

A general question; when metering a scene at or near sunset,(backlit with small area of setting sun in one part of the frame,otherwise blue skies) in which you don't want a silhouette,but rather details in both highlights and shadows,how do you meter such a scene?
Heard many ideas,thought I would ask you for your input.

I uploaded 2 examples

Thanks
Frank #944953

Brenda Tharp 11/30/2004 5:09:32 PM

Frank, I used my evaluative metering system on my Canon for this exposure. In looking at the scene, I felt the light/dark values were pretty much in balance, along with neutral values, and went with it. Over time, I have tested and learned to trust the in-camera meter. But if I had been concerned about the light areas of the boats overexposing, I would have taken some readings from those areas and adjusted according to what I felt was correct. The key for sunset metering where you don't want total silhouettes of everything is to first, meter the scene just to the left or right of the sun, without the sun in the frame. This is a basic starting point; then, you can recompose with the sun in the picture, but keep that same meter reading. It's easiest to do in manual metering mode, but you can also do it using meter lock buttons. This won't guarantee that everything in the shadows will have detail, by any means, but it will help. So much depends upon the moment at hand - how much contrast there is, etc. is a factor, too. Hope this helps! #947071

Kris M. Hartley 11/30/2004 9:26:52 PM

Great shot, Brenda! I absolutely love the feel and atmosphere in your photo. It's a nice warm feeling on this chilly night. As one who struggles with the lighting issues, I am definitely impressed!

kris #947564

Brenda Tharp 12/1/2004 12:06:19 PM

Thanks, Kris! #948830

Frank P. Luongo 12/1/2004 2:54:13 PM

Thanks Very much Brenda for answering my question.
The more I photograph, the more obvious the importance of light becomes.I use an SLR film camera and shoot exclusively in manual mode and use center weighted metering.
I have read many books, however none contain info. on WHERE to meter from.

Can you recommend a book or BP course that can fill this void?

Thanks Again
Love your work
Frank #948971

Stan Kwasniowski 12/1/2004 4:39:05 PM

Hi Brenda, awesome as all your work is, did you use the blue/yellow filter on this shot
Thanks

Stan Kwasniowski #949060

Brenda Tharp 12/1/2004 5:08:39 PM

Thanks, Stan! All though I own Singh-Ray's Blue-Gold, which I love, I did not use it here. It was just one of those sweet mornings with really orange/red light, after a clearing storm had just passed in Autumn.

To answer your question Frank, where you meter in a picture really doesn't matter. WHAT? It's true. What's important is that you know the light value (the tonality) of what you meter on. If you had a scene with white water (stream), black rocks, and green moss, you could choose to meter on any of those objects. You just have to know how much brighter or darker than middle-tone each one is; if you metered on the white water, you'd have to open up your exposure from the camera's reading; if you metered on the black rock, you'd have to close down your exposure from the camera's reading; and if you metered on the green moss, you probably could use that reading. This is an oversimplified explanation, but in theory, as long as you know whether something is 1/2 or 1 stop, etc. over middle tone, or under middle tone, you can take a reading off anything.Your meter will try to make middle toned, but you'll know better if you know that the white water is 1 1/2 to 2 stops over middle tone. You take the reading from the camera, and open up 1 1/2 stops.

Jim Zuckerman's Book Perfect Exposure, should help you; also, Bryan Petersen has a course Understanding Exposure, as well as a book by the same name. Hope this all helps - there are lots of tutorials about this stuff on-line too, try http://www.luminous-landscape.com and look at their tutorials to begin. #949103

Stan Kwasniowski 12/1/2004 8:17:22 PM

Frank, I wrote a review for Jim Zuckerman's Book Exposure on Amazon.com. read this book and I can assure you after you did, exposure will be no problem.

Stan Kwasniowski #949367

Frank P. Luongo 12/2/2004 10:02:28 AM

Thanks Stan and Brenda.
Your suggestions were very helpful.
I'm going to take Jim Zuckerman's course for starters. #950399

Amanda Littler 6/2/2006 1:39:31 PM

What a great picture with great colours, the use of light is brilliant. #2845550

Brenda Tharp 6/7/2006 11:05:57 AM

Thanks, Amanda. It was a very special morning, the air was very clear after the previous day's rainstorms. Light after a clearing storm can be really "crisp" - clean, free from particulate matter that makes haze, and smoggy conditions. So it was a good time to hit the harbor in hopes of a great sunrise! #2864984

Terry L. Ellis 6/7/2006 11:20:26 AM

Very striking, Brenda! Beautiful light, color, clarity and composition! Thank you for your explanation regarding metering. #2865020

Amy Jackson 6/7/2006 11:27:58 AM

Gorgeous image, Brenda!!! Love the colors and lighting!!! #2865049

Brenda Tharp 6/8/2006 3:17:40 PM

Thanks, Amy! #2870707

Donna LaMattino Pagakis 11/19/2006 7:51:14 PM

Gorgeous lighting and warm tones. Great image Brenda!! #3605803

Brenda Tharp 11/20/2006 3:41:46 PM

Thanks, Donna - I get back there every year and I keep hoping I'll get more of the same, but things are NEVER the same - the boat's gone, and that changed everything this year. It really proves the point of "seizing the moment" as it will never be the same again! #3609560

Jeffrey W. Reed 5/30/2007 5:29:35 PM

A wonderful capture...love the lighting... #4348549

Brenda Tharp 6/4/2007 2:34:11 PM

Thank you Jeffrey - appreciate the feedback! #4365418

Philip Sanders 10/2/2007 3:34:10 AM

Maine is such a beautiful State .. lovely shot .. beautiful shades ... #4872232

Brenda Tharp 10/2/2007 6:12:10 PM

Thanks, Philip - it is a beautiful place! #4875327

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