Bridge
Turns out we sold the Schneider 150mm f2.8 Xenotar I had been having so much fun with at work, but I still had several sheets of Velvia 100 left that needed exposing, and there is nothing quite like unexposed film with its unfulfilled potential to motivate one to get out and make photographs. So I grabbed a Caltar 150mm f5.6, which let me tell you was nowhere near as fun, but at least it had a larger image circle that accommodated movements better and I headed down to my favorite bridge.
It is also worth noting that I didn't take any device capable of metering light other than my own brain. As it turns out, I seemed to have done alright. Metering is something that can be easily intimidating, but that is only because we have taught ourselves to rely on light meters, so that ability within ourselves has atrophied. But you figure that photography existed for many decades before light meters came about and then you realize that despite all our gadgets (or maybe because of them) photographers a century ago probably had a more advanced understanding of light than we do. Perhaps it isn't so crazy to think that as our technology goes forward, we go backward. But perhaps it is still a little crazy. Who can really say. What I can say though is that several years ago I spent a whole year photographing the bridges of Portland, all at night, all without any sort of meter other than myself. I learned to gauge exposure at night by only using one aperture and one ISO (f11 and 400 for those that are curious). By pinning down two of the variables, I was able to more easily associate shutter speeds with nighttime lighting conditions and lo and behold, I exposed film for a year without a meter and missed nary an exposure. Of course, I was using negative film and erring on the side of over-exposure, so I had a lot of latitude and margin of error to work with. But it works and it works surprisingly well. So I pulled on that experience in making this photo. I mentally calculated an exposure at 400 ISO and f11 and then I just did the mental math to convert that shutter speed to 100 ISO (two stop loss) and f5.6 (two stop gain) and added a second or two for reciprocity and voila. Exposure. It is a lot to write about and a lot to read about but in reality the whole thing happened in about 5-8 seconds, I spent most of my time concentrating on the scene and not the exposure, but that is where practice comes in.
Try it out sometime.
Linhof Technika IV / Caltar 150mm f5.6 / Fuji Velvia 100
Bridge
Turns out we sold the Schneider 150mm f2.8 Xenotar I had been having so much fun with at work, but I still had several sheets of Velvia 100 left that needed exposing, and there is nothing quite like unexposed film with its unfulfilled potential to motivate one to get out and make photographs. So I grabbed a Caltar 150mm f5.6, which let me tell you was nowhere near as fun, but at least it had a larger image circle that accommodated movements better and I headed down to my favorite bridge.
It is also worth noting that I didn't take any device capable of metering light other than my own brain. As it turns out, I seemed to have done alright. Metering is something that can be easily intimidating, but that is only because we have taught ourselves to rely on light meters, so that ability within ourselves has atrophied. But you figure that photography existed for many decades before light meters came about and then you realize that despite all our gadgets (or maybe because of them) photographers a century ago probably had a more advanced understanding of light than we do. Perhaps it isn't so crazy to think that as our technology goes forward, we go backward. But perhaps it is still a little crazy. Who can really say. What I can say though is that several years ago I spent a whole year photographing the bridges of Portland, all at night, all without any sort of meter other than myself. I learned to gauge exposure at night by only using one aperture and one ISO (f11 and 400 for those that are curious). By pinning down two of the variables, I was able to more easily associate shutter speeds with nighttime lighting conditions and lo and behold, I exposed film for a year without a meter and missed nary an exposure. Of course, I was using negative film and erring on the side of over-exposure, so I had a lot of latitude and margin of error to work with. But it works and it works surprisingly well. So I pulled on that experience in making this photo. I mentally calculated an exposure at 400 ISO and f11 and then I just did the mental math to convert that shutter speed to 100 ISO (two stop loss) and f5.6 (two stop gain) and added a second or two for reciprocity and voila. Exposure. It is a lot to write about and a lot to read about but in reality the whole thing happened in about 5-8 seconds, I spent most of my time concentrating on the scene and not the exposure, but that is where practice comes in.
Try it out sometime.
Linhof Technika IV / Caltar 150mm f5.6 / Fuji Velvia 100