Re: Sunny 16 versus meters

[P3D Eric Goldstein <egoldste@xxxxxx>]

Patrick Boeckstijns asks:

> I'm not shure I understand the word "bracketing".
> Can anyone explain me what it exactly means in a "photo" context.


It means to use your calculated exposure as a center, upon which you
shoot additional frames with incrementally more exposure, and
incrementally less exposure.

For example, if I decide through use of a meter, tables, and my brain
that the proper exposure for a scene if 1/50th @ f/11, I then bracket
this exposure by shooting the same scene immediately thereafter at
1/50th @f/13.5 and at 1/50th @ f/9.5. These additional two exposures
will provide a greater assurance that I will wind up with an excellently
exposed chrome, even if (a) my meter is miscalibrated/nonlinear (b) my
_brain_ is miscalibrated/nonlinear (c) the particular roll of film I'm
shooting is a bit slow or fast (d) my shutter is a bit slow or fast (e)
the processing is off, etc.

If you want more insurance, you'd shoot two additional chromes with yet
another half stop greater/lesser exposure. The resulting five chromes
would then cover an exposure range of two full f/stops, which is
probably more than you need under most circumstances. 

Bracketing exposures is also a wonderful learning tool to demonstrate
the effects of exposure on contrast and saturation with color film, and
the translation of light and shadow to monochrome with B/W film. These
effects are far more apparent while shooting positive (slide) films than
negative films, because the negative films have a much longer contrast
range, and the printing process compensates for and masks exposure
variations. With negative film, it is not uncommon to bracket in full
stop increments.


Eric G.


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