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Re: Good exposure


  • From: P3D Eric Goldstein <egoldste@xxxxxx>
  • Subject: Re: Good exposure
  • Date: Tue, 07 Jan 1997 09:45:08 -0500

Gary Nored wrote:

> More and more I am coming to believe that it is the SHADOWS
> that determine our perception of brightness (at least as it is
> recorded on film) -- not the relative brightness of the picture.
(snip)
> This experience, and others, have taught me to adjust the shadow exposure
> in contrasty situations when I want to control the viewers perception
> of brightly/dimly lit.
> 
> Just a thought -- or two


And a very interesting one at that. This is clearly true for monochrome
works, and I would agree that shadow is one of the key deliniators of
light for color as well.

The difficulty in practice comes with the narrow contrast range of film
positive emulsions. It is less common to find an existing exterior
composition with a contrast range within the 5-6 stops of slide film,
and so practically adjusting exposure for the lower ranges places the
higher ranges well above what the emulsion can handle. But if you can do
it without having to haul in a whole bunch of fills and scrims (and some
compositions will lend themselves to this approach without them), then
you've got some room to maneuver exposure-wise.

It should be said that most of the slide films I'm familiar with do have
non-linear shoulders at the extremes, which will allow you about a half
a stop of highlight compression in defference to the shadows.

It was suggested early on in this discussion that "good" exposures can
vary by 2 stops or more, depending upon how one views them. While I can
buy into this for negative films, I can't see this being true for
chromes, where plus or minus a half a stop represents make-or-break
bracketing under most circumstances, no matter how your lookin' at 'em.


Eric G.


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