Re: Yeah, so anyway..

Let me jump into the middle of this conversation with some camera chatter
that might be unwelcome or repetitive.

The reason that exposure control is necessary, or a problem, is because ALL
the light meters in the world try to make the prevailing overall tone of
every scene they see a medium gray tone called "18% gray" by photographers.
For the rest of us, it's about like a "battleship" gray. This is what all
meters have done since the light meter was invented.

This means that when the film (or chip) needs more light, the lens is
"opened up" (the f stop numb is numerically smaller) to admit more light,
and when less light is needed (according to the light meter) the lens is
"stopped down" to admit less light. Of course, the light meter is striving
to match that 18% gray value while doing this.

But SNOW is white white white!! So when the meter tries to make the snow
match the 18% gray tone, what happens to the rest of the picture? It gets
very very dark. That's why we need exposure control. Oddly, on very bright
days shooting pictures on snow fields, we think we should "stop down" the
camera to admit less light since it is so bright. But the meter is
incorrectly trying to match the snow to a gray tone. The all do this, even
those with "center weighted" or multi-zone weighted averaging.

In fact, on bright days in snow fields, you should open the lens up. How
much? In my experience, about 1 to 2 stops if you are using a film camera.
If you are using a digital camera, look for a snow setting or a bright day
setting or if you an, set it to manual control and open the lens up a stop
over what the meter says is OK. Worst case - make sure the meter is reading
a person or object in the center of the frame, freeze the exposure (on
digitals usually by pressing the shutter button 1/2 way - consult the
owner's manual) and then recompose the image full frame and press the
shutter button. I have even held the palm of my hand in front of the lens
(with sun shining on it) to get a good meter reading. Any of these will
help get the exposure right ON SNOW. It won't work well under other
circumstances.

The linked pictures of the guy on the sled looked pretty well exposed. the
camera lens could have been "opened up" as described above a bit more -
maybe 1/2 to 1 stop, and the snow would have totally bleached out, but the
rider in the background would have been slightly brighter.

Hope this is helpful.



"Pat M" <pat_mole@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7DqVh.3566$BS2.2278@xxxxxxxxxxx
You have definitely got to love those instant discharges. So the question
is do we dump the sled or do we try and avoid the one in front of you and
put it into a tree? Funny after it happened but not when he is the one
wondering how he is not going to slam into your sled I imagine.

Nice pics by the way.

Pat M

"X6667" <x6667@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3frb239c8dscs42760qdmd03v5jomc5u3q@xxxxxxxxxx
Sorry Gary, ancient chinese secret!! Mm,, alrighthen, and I guess it's
no
great revelation but it'll help me, I think. I never grasped the need
for
exposure compenstation nor really understood it and perhaps I still don't
but
we'll have more data soon. My camera shoots too dark when using the
viewfinders 'ideal' exposure/shutter speed line up thingy which I've for
some
reason fealt the need to use. I'm going to either forgo using that
feature as
gospel or less than likely adjust exposer comp. It's the little things
lol.
Another huge mistake I've been making and I ruined a great batch of
images,
again, first big ride of the year is by using to low of an f stop. 10 -
fifteen makes it much less tempermental to focus. I personally have a
hard
time focusing through such a small viewfinder and unless you've got lots
of
time to settup a specific shot that a smaller f number will maximize then
play
safety and go high but not too high. A really high number focuses
everything
including dust on your lense and thats unfortunate. Not much to add I
know
but these two simple items have cost me about a 1000 wasted pictures.

Iv'e linked this site before and I'm doing it again. Lot's of good
data,
pictures, and knowledgable people on the subject.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/


Here's a couple images from Saturday the 7th that I've been meaning to
share. This is Pete and he's a workaholic like none I've met and I've
worked
lots of different jobs. Pete has a sort of natural tallent when it comes
to
off trail sledding. Pete got a new sled this year. Terry check it out
here
comes Pete. Yeah buddy he's giviner the con. Holy *** that was funny!
You
alright?

http://members.aol.com:/x6667/4-7-07-1928.jpg

http://members.aol.com:/x6667/4-7-07-1929.jpg




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