Lumière d’Argent

This article on Michael Reichmann Luminous-Landscape site tells it exactly like I would if I was as articulate. It is one of those pseudo universal truths repeated too many times.

Stephane :: Dec.18.2006 :: Photography :: No Comments »

I took, edited, adjusted and printed those four photos the same day. That never happened to me before to generate four acceptable prints from nothing in one day. And 90% of it was being outside touring, looking, having fun! Up to now, digital is working a treat!

Stephane :: Dec.11.2006 :: Gear :: No Comments »

The 5D, as well as the Sony DSC-R1 I also have, have quite an amazing dynamic range. Not as large as traditional B&W film, but certainly more than slide film and as much as colour negative. The trick is that it is shallow in the highlights and deep in the shadows. The built-in meters do an OK job for casual picture taking, but not nearly good enough for B&W landscape. The Way I proceed now is that I use my Pentax Digital Spot Meter (the plainest sport meter one can find, actually) and measure only the brightest spot in my picture, apply +2 1/3 stop and I have my exposure value. Right every time. For pictures like the one above, a first check on the camera screen is not encouraging, even the histogram can be somewhat worrying, but one the RAW is properly developed, it does work very well. That one was taken with the Sony R1, by the way.

For extreme cases, it works to go up to +3 stops in the highlight and use the highlight recovery capabilities of the RAW developer. However, the camera histogram should be checked to see that only one channel is burned.

Regarding the larger dynamic range of B&W films, it is true it can be helpful. It can also lead to negatives that are a nightmare to print or lead to files that look unnatural. Still, one or two more stops in digital would be great, especially in the highlights.

Stephane :: Dec.03.2006 :: Gear :: No Comments »