Rob MacKillop
Edinburgh Correspondent
Spent the last hour looking at the beautifully exposed photos of Edward Weston, Paul Strand and Ansel Adams, and being left with the not very nice feeling in my gut that I really don't know what I'm doing - and that I'd like to change that.
When shooting analogue, I always opt for auto exposure when available. My experience with medium format and manual exposure left an impression on me that it is hard to get exposure just right, in fact I very often got it very wrong. I used an old exposure meter and/or an exposure app on my phone - both were often in disagreement. So, auto exposure it is...
But I feel I'd like to refine AE to suit my aesthetic preferences, which means overriding it. I'm not mathematically gifted, so complex equations won't help at all. I don't really understand the zone system either. Part of me, the negative part, thinks I'm too damned stupid to understand what I should be doing to achieve the best exposure. Part of me thinks I'm stupid for thinking that...
Here's a badly-exposed shot I did recently, using the Hexar and XP2:
I just focussed on the brickwork with a half-pressed shutter, then recomposed. F5.6, if I remember correctly. The sky is overblown, and the path/wall in the foreground is somewhat disappointing. I remember definitely wanting the curve of that small wall in the frame, as it provides some continuity to the shadow on the brickwork under the bridge.
I feel a knowledge of the zone system would have helped here. What should I have done? Take a reading of the sky, the bridge, the path, then somehow work out an average exposure? Wouldn't that just render a flat image?
Your advice appreciated...
Nik Silver version: It has more definition to the trees beneath the brickwork, but has lost any detail of the path. The sky has a bit of grain, but hasn't improved much.
When shooting analogue, I always opt for auto exposure when available. My experience with medium format and manual exposure left an impression on me that it is hard to get exposure just right, in fact I very often got it very wrong. I used an old exposure meter and/or an exposure app on my phone - both were often in disagreement. So, auto exposure it is...
But I feel I'd like to refine AE to suit my aesthetic preferences, which means overriding it. I'm not mathematically gifted, so complex equations won't help at all. I don't really understand the zone system either. Part of me, the negative part, thinks I'm too damned stupid to understand what I should be doing to achieve the best exposure. Part of me thinks I'm stupid for thinking that...
Here's a badly-exposed shot I did recently, using the Hexar and XP2:
I just focussed on the brickwork with a half-pressed shutter, then recomposed. F5.6, if I remember correctly. The sky is overblown, and the path/wall in the foreground is somewhat disappointing. I remember definitely wanting the curve of that small wall in the frame, as it provides some continuity to the shadow on the brickwork under the bridge.
I feel a knowledge of the zone system would have helped here. What should I have done? Take a reading of the sky, the bridge, the path, then somehow work out an average exposure? Wouldn't that just render a flat image?
Your advice appreciated...
Nik Silver version: It has more definition to the trees beneath the brickwork, but has lost any detail of the path. The sky has a bit of grain, but hasn't improved much.