Thread: Black & White, monotone and sepia

Originally Posted by grebeman

Hi Paul,

Today I was actually riding the Dart Valley Railway (as a member a free trip, special this w/e) and I saw the possibilities of this location from the train, so got off at Staverton and walked back along the river. That's a complicated way of saying I didn't use the Sekonic spot meter as I didn't have it with me, but for landscapes with cloud, or bright days, it's a great tool to have along, meter the highlights and come down about 2 to 2.5 stops to set your exposure. So when I set out with landscapes in mind (next week perhaps with the schools going back) it definitely gets packed to be used.

The "obsidian" look will be as a consequence of the river rising on Dartmoor and flowing over peat before descending to these lower levels, so clear and slightly acidic water unless its picked up a lot of sediment, but it does give rise to those lovely dark, almost black but glassy clear areas where the surface is smoother.

Barrie

Thanks for the very interesting explanation(s).

Gary

Originally Posted by grebeman

Barrie

Very nice. (Spot metered less two stops off the clouds?)

Gary

Originally Posted by Gary

Very nice. (Spot metered less two stops off the clouds?)

Gary

Basically yes, spot metered from a highlight in the scene, so generally the whitest patch of cloud, then 2 stops down. Having just made a way of mounting a Cokin filter holder on my 12mm f/5.6 Voightlander lens I've just been up the lane and experimented with some graduated ND filters. With a three stop (ND8) I found I can now easily come down by 4 stops from that highlight reading. In the above photograph that would hopefully have opened up much of the blocked shadow detail in the dark hedgerow on the left hand side and further improved the image.

Barrie

Originally Posted by grebeman

Basically yes, spot metered from a highlight in the scene, so generally the whitest patch of cloud, then 2 stops down. Having just made a way of mounting a Cokin filter holder on my 12mm f/5.6 Voightlander lens I've just been up the lane and experimented with some graduated ND filters. With a three stop (ND8) I found I can now easily come down by 4 stops from that highlight reading. In the above photograph that would hopefully have opened up much of the blocked shadow detail in the dark hedgerow on the left hand side and further improved the image.

Barrie

I was gonna speak to the shadows and why you didn't read off the shadows and open up a a stop or two or three. Obviously, the graduated filter will go a long way to retrieving those shadow details. Not being a landscape shooter, I find this all rather interesting.

G

Originally Posted by Gary

I was gonna speak to the shadows and why you didn't read off the shadows and open up a a stop or two or three. Obviously, the graduated filter will go a long way to retrieving those shadow details. Not being a landscape shooter, I find this all rather interesting.

G

I am using either G1, GF1 or GH2 cameras (GH2 for the photograph in question). The sensors in these have a rather limited dynamic range and in my experience exposing for shadow detail will result in badly blown higher tones. Shadows have to be sacrificed. However my very short rough and ready test today with a graduated ND filter gave me images with significantly more shadow detail whilst being able to retain detail in the high tones such as the cloud. I'm hoping to be able to go out and do some more landscape work in the next day or two and check the results out for real. I used to be very much a landscape photographer back in my roll film days 30-40 years ago and have generally been disappointed with the results of my digitally obtained landscapes.
I appreciate that the latest generation of cameras have sensors that are rather more tolerant of higher dynamic range images, but I tend to lag behind the curve for various reasons. I am seriously considering the latest Sigma Merrill cameras (DP1M and DP2M), but as a Linux user it will not just be the cameras I would need to fund, but a whole new computer and operating system to support the dedicated software to open the raw files.

Barrie

grd iii

Originally Posted by grebeman

I am using either G1, GF1 or GH2 cameras (GH2 for the photograph in question). The sensors in these have a rather limited dynamic range and in my experience exposing for shadow detail will result in badly blown higher tones. Shadows have to be sacrificed. However my very short rough and ready test today with a graduated ND filter gave me images with significantly more shadow detail whilst being able to retain detail in the high tones such as the cloud. I'm hoping to be able to go out and do some more landscape work in the next day or two and check the results out for real. I used to be very much a landscape photographer back in my roll film days 30-40 years ago and have generally been disappointed with the results of my digitally obtained landscapes.
I appreciate that the latest generation of cameras have sensors that are rather more tolerant of higher dynamic range images, but I tend to lag behind the curve for various reasons. I am seriously considering the latest Sigma Merrill cameras (DP1M and DP2M), but as a Linux user it will not just be the cameras I would need to fund, but a whole new computer and operating system to support the dedicated software to open the raw files.

Barrie

"Ouch" on the Sigma investment. µ4/3 seems to be progressing very rapidly. I think a wait and see would be a prudent course.

Gary

Originally Posted by Gary

"Ouch" on the Sigma investment. µ4/3 seems to be progressing very rapidly. I think a wait and see would be a prudent course.

Gary

Gary, you could well be right. I was using a GF1 this morning and bending down to view that fixed screen was no joke at times, my joints seem to be seizing up, so I would have the same problem with a Sigma. A swinging screen is so much more convenient when the camera is awkwardly placed for the human frame. I was using an ND8 graduated filter in an attempt to retain shadow values without burning out detail in the sky. Unfortunately the sky was almost cloudless although it's now gone to 100% cloud cover seemingly in minutes. The shot is one I've done several times before, it being just a few minutes walk from my cottage. A difficult high contrast location with a high banked lane such that one hedge is almost always in deep shadow on sunny days. I've been able to retain shadow detail better than previous attempts but at the expense of rendering the sky a little too dark at it's zenith, still interesting experiments.



Barrie

Very good, the ND is working and yep, the sky is a bit overly dark. I recognize this is just a test, but a bit of cropping would eliminate the 'overly' part. I had an EVF for my GF1, it swiveled 90 degrees for those low shots. The EVF had pretty low resolution so not very good for seeing detail, but worked great for framing.

G