This is where many amateurs get lost: exposure cannot correct for bad light. OK, nothing can fix bad light. You have to wait for it. Photography takes patience. You can try a graduated Neutral Density filter which often helps bring down an overly bright sky or too dark foreground. Here's an example of one.
Some people try to tweak development to compensate for crummy light. It's much better to fix the light. Ignore the temptation to tweak development; this is why we in Hollywood pull up three trucks of lighting equipment to light a scene outdoors.
If you do your own developing the Zone System gets far more complex if you want to adjust the exposure and development to attempt to fit the range of the scene into the range of the film. This used to be popular in B/W before good variable contrast paper was available, as in Ansel's day. Today B/W shooters make sure that they expose enough for the shadows (make sure everything for which you need detail is exposed at not less than
If you're asking, no, I have no idea how Ansel got ten zones. Today we only get about seven. OK, actually I do know how he got ten zones: Ansel used less development and slower speeds for his negatives than the manufacturer's ratings. We can't do that with color today. You can do this in B/W, and you have to do a lot of custom testing and developing.
In Ansel's day everyone shot sheet film and used graded paper. Therefore it made sense to develop each sheet differently so it could print on grade 2 paper.
Today people shoot roll film (your Nikon or Mamiya) and need to develop the whole roll the same way. One uses VC (variable contrast) papers to control the contrast, not developing.
You always develop color the same way, unlike B/W. Changing developing times for color often messes up all the color balances.
I have pushed and pulled Velvia and saw little contrast change. The colors shift and the black level changes, but the contrast does not vary as does B/W film.
You have to change the light yourself or wait for God to do it. This is art. Only your heart can tell you what to do. You have to know at what level you want various light and dark areas to render, just as a painter has to decide what colors to take from her palette. There are no written formulae for good photos. Ansel covered this quite well in his books.
© 2007 KenRockwell.com | 74 | converted by Sándor Nagy |