Jorj wrote: > > Thank you all for the great input... I'll let you know how I do with this! > > Jorj Jorj, You didn't get any great input. Unless it came privately. Besides all the conversations about filling a tungsten lit set with flash, it goes something like this. You can't measure highlights with an incident meter. Highlights are a property of how much light is being reflected off the subject. Incident meters tell you how much light is falling on the subject in the first place. In theory, the exposure suggested (it is only a suggestion btw) by the meter will replicate an 18% gray card on film. In other words, with the proper exposure, a photograph of a grey card will look the same as the card photographed. Not light gray. Not dark gray. 18% gray. The problems start when you are putting different things in the light. A white cat will reflect much more light back to the camera and result in much brighter "highlights" that will a black cat. Snow, for instance will reflect back more light than the film can handle and unless the photographer compensates by stopping down a bit there will be no detail. Conversely, a black cat, say Miles Davis, might have appeared darker on film than we perceived him to be. Unless the photographer was doing an interpretive portrait he might be served to open up the cameras aperture to put a little more detail in the shadows of his subject. What you are measuring when you say you are getting f11 in the highlights is actually f11 for your "key" light. Your primary source light. What you are measuring when you say you are getting f4 in the shadows is actually f4 for your fill light. What this really means is that you should be exposing your subject at f11 as a starting point. Since you are using slide film you should be able to hold detail in the subject as long as it doesn't reflect back or absorb more than 1 1/2 stops in either direction. Slide film can handle about 3 stops of latitude in the lighting. If for instance you were photographing a clay statue of David painted 18% gray. you would have no problem with any of the highlights. The shadows of course could go to black. so with your fill light at f4 you will find the fill to be 3 stops under the main exposure. The film will see none of it. Your shadows will be black. Below film threshold. In order to be seen within the latitude of the film. the fill light should measure 1 1/2 stops under or less. (5.6 1/2) Your suggestion to split the difference and expose at f5.6 1/2 will move the tone of the statue from 18% grey to 1 1/2 stops over. On slide film that would be white. So white as to be right on the boundaries of blown out with no details. Your shadow detail would be 1 1/2 stops under exposed. So dark as to be right on the boundaries of blackness. What will happen in a real portrait depends on how far above or below the 18% grey reflectance standard they are. A light skinned person (reflecting much light) will be blown out with no detail. A dark skinned person (reflecting less light) will probably look ok in the highlights but suffer from very dark shadows. As for the background? Here is what I would do. Measure the light on the subject. I would open 1/2 stop but this is only from my experience with my own meter/film/processing combination. Adjust the light on the white background so that it is 1 1/2 stops brighter than your exposure for the subject. No more. No less. More will result in the light wrapping around the subject and a loss of contrast. Any less will not give you a pure white on slide film. I believe most of this to be close to correct. Hopefully any mistakes will be corrected by the professors. best. Snapping Bob .
