P3D Re: Exposing Christmas lights

["Greg Wageman" <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Dr. George A. Themelis <fj834@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> >I would use an exposure meter in such circumstances (Hi, George!).  
> 
> Hi and good luck Greg!

Thanks.   Luck is always helpful, but with care, unnecessary. :-)

I have taken some night-time pictures of one of the buildings in which I used
to work, using the built-in exposure meter in the RBT X2.  While I did bracket
(by overriding the automatic shutter speed selection), I found that the
exposures
chosen by the camera were excellent.I did also play with allowing the flash
to fire, in addition to the time exposure, which helped even out the color
balance [lighting was predominantly high-pressure sodium and mercury
vapor] without resulting in overexposure.

> >There are guidelines you can use for these
> >conditions, but you will burn a lot more film bracketing than you really
> >need to if you start with a fairly good meter reading.  IMO, as always.
> 
> As always, I disagree :-)  The guidelines are usually better than metering
> in low, non-uniform lighting situations like Christmas lights, fireworks,
> etc.  Bill Costa (is that Greek?) said it best... I have a low light guide
> at home that covers lots of low light situations...I would go by the guide.
> Another thing to remember is that these situations have a lot of tolerance
> exposure-wise.  They are not as critical as full-light conditions.  In many
> cases it is a matter of personal taste... So some trial and error is in 
> order.  Full f-stop bracketting is reocmmended.  Don't waste film in 1/3 
> increments.  

The eye is easily fooled...  When you read a text description in a guide,
you really have an unclear idea if your current situation matches what's
being described.  The meter will get you immediately into a ballpark
where you will get an image on the film resembling what you see.  Beyond
that, I fully agree that bracketing is essential.  And as you say, full stops
(e.g. halve and double the exposure time).

I advocate knowing how to use a meter.  Random application of even the
best of tools doesn't guarantee useful results...

	-Greg


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