Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/12/06

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Subject: [Leica] Bad Exposure or Something Else?
From: r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard S. Taylor)
Date: Mon Dec 6 11:01:53 2004
References: <p06200726bdd959a809fd@[131.142.12.152]> <6030DD3E-4737-11D9-881B-0050E42E6E0B@shaw.ca>

John - Your "sinful" attempt to correct the image is certainly closer 
to what I saw - and thanks you and to all the others who responded 
with ideas and suggestions.

What really bothers me about the photo (and about the dozen or so 
others I took at the same time) is the blown out highlights.  I've 
now looked at the negatives more carefully and the highlights are 
badly blown out there, too.  (Which eliminates the scanning as an 
issue.)  I think if the highlights weren't so badly blown it might 
have been possible to make something of the picture.

So, I think what I've learned is:

1. ASA 400 color negative film really isn't universal. I should have 
used a longer-scale film, ASA 100 or so, in this situation.

2. Overexposure really isn't OK with color negative film (though is 
far more forgiving than slide film).  I've always exposed for the 
shadows and let the highlights take care of themselves.   That 
obviously doesn't always work.

3. Photoshop can't fix everything.

You are forgiven.  Your good works saved you.  Go and sin no more... 
(unless that is, you want to try again to fix one of my miserable 
attempts to commit photography, in which case, sin away.)

>May God have mercy on my immortal soul. Is this more what you had in mind?
>
>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album63/another_man_s_image
>
>John Collier
>
>On Dec 5, 2004, at 5:50 PM, Richard S. Taylor wrote:
>
>>As I turned onto Memorial Drive in Cambridge last week the 
>>sycamores along the drive were glowing white-gold in the 
>>mid-afternoon sunlight.  I quickly parked and took pictures.  The 
>>results were disappointing to say the least.  I've posted one 
>>example here:
>>
>><http://gallery.leica-users.org/PICKS/21_0021>
>>
>>Photographic qualities of the picture aside, I wonder if any of you 
>>might have any thoughts on what I might have done to improve the 
>>rendition of the glowing trees that I saw with my eyes.  There 
>>seems to be an exposure issue here since the highlights look blown 
>>out but would it have been better on a slower film, or is there a 
>>scanning problem, or something else?
>>
>>This photo isn't even close to the image I had in my head. 
>>Manipulation in Photoshop to darken the image overall helps but 
>>isn't really the solution.  The posted picture is unmanipulated and 
>>uncropped.
>
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information


-- 
Regards,

Dick
Boston MA

Replies: Reply from douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas M. Sharp) ([Leica] Bad Exposure or Something Else?)
In reply to: Message from r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard S. Taylor) ([Leica] Bad Exposure or Something Else?)
Message from jbcollier at shaw.ca (John Collier) ([Leica] Bad Exposure or Something Else?)