> I agree with Denton here: bracketing is ridiculously wasteful of film
> if used purely as a crutch for poor exposure judgement. The ideal aim
> is to refine exposure judgement to the point where, if one is down to
> one's last frame on one's last roll, and one has a Pulitzer Prize-
> winning scene before them, one has enough confidence and skill to KNOW
> they can MAKE---not just TAKE!---the proper exposure. :-)
>
> Sure, some exposures are tough to judge. At times, I shoot a lot of
> nighttime or otherwise dimly lit scenes where an 18 0rey reference
> object is not readily available. At those times, I prefer to lean on
> the advice of one of my favorite photographers, Canada's Freeman
> Patterson. Freeman notes that if one MUST exposure bracket, try to
> bracket in one direction only---not on both sides of your best guess
> exposure.
while i agree that bracketing of most daytime scenes is wasteful, i
wouldn't consider trusting myself (or the OTF meter in my camera) for
most nighttime shots. maybe that makes me weak and timid. okay, i'm
weak and timid. but i'll get the shot i wanted and won't find myself
saying "ohhhh....okay. next time i'll do it *this* way!" because there
may not be a next time for that shot.
what's really annoying is that, thanks to "advances" in film processing,
experimenting with exposure is becoming more and more difficult. if you
get prints rather than contact sheets, the software being used to determine
exposure of the prints evens everything up to the point that the only
difference you see between exposures with two stops difference will be
the way the shadows block up. back in the "old days", i could look at
the prints and actually learn something about how to expose the next
time i tried. now i have to strain my tired old eyes squinting into
a loupe (did i spell that right?).
--
"The views expressed above do not necessarily represent those of Fannie
Mae, the IRIS CMO Model Team, Joe Jackson, any bacteria dwelling on his
skin, atoms, electrons, quarks, muons or gluons or any persons or
objects either real or imagined."
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