Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/10/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I just started experimenting with the -2/3 and yellow filter on this trip after reading that is how Jay got his excellent results with the MM. Before that I did not use exposure compensation or filters but I still have not been able to get some of my MM files to look the way I want them to. I did not see the logic behind using Silver Efex since that is more of a conversion program, but Leica includes it with the MM for a reason, I guess. I have used it to convert color to B&W but never to convert B&W to different B&W! I would love to see what everybody would do with a raw MM file and then explain how they did it!! I still love the MM but would love to learn to get the most out of it. It took me many years of darkroom work to learn to get what I wanted from film. I'm hoping to cut the learning time with the MM. I'm getting too old too fast. Thanks, Tina On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 3:55 PM, George Lottermoser < george.imagist at icloud.com> wrote: > > On Oct 21, 2014, at 2:39 PM, Tina Manley wrote: > > > But the Zone system is exactly what I use and always have! With film, I > > looked for Zone 5 and metered off of something like the ground or grass > and > > then recomposed. With the Monochrome and the danger of overexposing the > > highlights, I try to find Zone 6 or 7 to meter off of. I usually use the > > center-weighted metering but sometimes, in tricky lighting, I use the > spot > > meter. I'll admit that my normal style is documentary, not art, so I'm > > shooting very fast, handheld, and moving on. The K2 yellow filter that I > > used this trip should just increase the contrast slightly, especially the > > sky. I don't normally use filters at all but the Monochrome files look > > very flat just imported into LR. I'll try running them through Silver > FX. > > Suggested settings? > > Metering off of Zone 5 subject placement doesn't "use the Zone System" > so much as simply locate the area where the meter puts any and everything. > > And if you've set the camera to -2/3? then?? > You've actually put the subject Zone V closer to Zone IV. > > Then using the camera's meter, with a yellow filter on the camera, > and pointing it at the grass? well if the grass has turned a bit yellow? > where is your actual value in your Monochrom file? probably considerably > lighter than Zone V? > > In other words? way too many variables? to call it "using the Zone System" > which by definition requires controlling all the variables to render > consistent and known results. > > Determining precisely where a given subject value renders without detail > in both the highlight and shadow > is where I start to understand the Monochrom sensor's dynamic range; > and to precisely PLACE those highlight values where I want them to be; > consistently. > > Regards, > George Lottermoser > > http://www.imagist.com > http://www.imagist.com/blog > http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > -- Tina Manley www.tinamanley.com tina-manley.artistwebsites.com