Re: Exposure recommendations

[George Madrid <gamadrid@xxxxxxxxxx>]

   So what is the concept?  What do you want as background, what kind of
   portrait. What will she be wearing(as in color and shape of clothes)? Is
   there a key shot you are after?  Like is this a head shot, 3/4 or what?
   What lens do you have for your 35mm? I do this a lot and love it and I
   have my own way of working with the stuff, (don't we all?) If you want
   to talk you can call me at 415-494-7761 weekdays or e.mail at
   m-p@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My friend is into the "goth" culture, which, if you're not familiar with
it, involves wearing lots of black.  Pale skin is also a feature, and any
jewelry should be ornate, preferably silver.  The look is also supposed to
be a death sort of thing and therefore somewhat otherworldly.  If you've
seen "The Crow", you know what I'm talking about.

Well, I was talking to her about IR photography the other night, and we
started thinking about how it would work photographing a goth.  The
combination of the pale skin with the halo-sort of effect and softer focus
should look quite in genre.  Surreal.  Otherworldly.  And less of a tan
than a computer nerd in February.

We're probably going to start with mostly head-shots and see where the mood
takes us.

   My first thought is come in closer with one of the lights and experiment
   not just with exposure, but with fill-ratio and backdrop/backlight.  Do
   you use a hand held meter or simply, with the ttl meter?

My normal technique for determining studio lighting is to use a reflected
reading from a grey card.  Then I may fudge it a stop or two in either
direction depending on the effect I want.  However, I'm at a bit of a loss
how IR will affect this.  I have a TTL meter, but I try not to rely on it
too much.  I will probably be using a medium red filter that I normally
rate with a factor of 1.5-2 stops.  

   Also, what chemistry and method do you normally use for your hsir?

hsir?  What is that?

I normally process in HC100 Dil. B since my darkroom gives it to me
free. Sometimes I use Edwal, but I'm willing to experiment.  

Thanks again for your advice,

George

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Topic No. 7