Re: Exposure recommendations

[Michael-Patrick <M-P@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

George Madrid wrote:
> 
>    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
Hi George,
> hsir?  What is that?
Well, it is the name I us for Kodak Hi-Speed InfraRed, because that is
what is on the box. I see people on this list talking about HIE and IR
films and I am not SURE about the meaning, but I guess I just confused
more instead of clarifying. Sorry.

I use 35mm Kodak b/w high speed ir exclusively in IR applications.

> I normally process in HC100 Dil. B since my darkroom gives it to me
> free. 
When I used HC110 Dil. B I shot the film with 500w tungs. bulbs in my
floods exposed at 400asa with a hand held spot meter. using a wratten 25
red.  I put the floods in nice and close to soften the light and get max
use of the 400asa.  This allowed me to us a 105 or 135 lens on my Nikon
with an f.stop in the 11, 16 range (to make sure the nose and eyes were
in focus.  Black clothes against a black back drop made for some very
interesting shapes to play with around the body, because I basically had
no detail in the clothes, but the skin framed by the the material was
wonderful, the problem blondes worked best, dark hair would definitly
need a hair light.  If you use a lighter back drop or light the
background you will have a differnt look.  My negs were pretty bullet
proof and printing times long but the results were excellent and I got a
great response from all the models always loved the work and from it I
easily got more models and even a Scholarship and admittance to The San
Francisco Art Institute.  I told the models to bring black tops that had
flexibiltiy in how they fell about the shoulders and chest allowing me
to think in "graphic design" terms. Revealing what I wanted to reveal.

Good luck
m-p

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Topic No. 6