RE: lens questions - redux

DEAR BARRY,
            It is (as always) a question of balance.
            Firstly, forgive my reference to the welding flame being too
dense on the negative?too much time shooting b&w for fine art photos. I
slipped back into a more negative frame of mind ;-)); of course it would
be too light (low density) on your Provia transparency.
            Secondly, you can measure the light coming from the welder and
then pump up the strobe light to, lets say, two or three stops less
(setting your exposure for this reading) so you will get a bright welding
flame and a more midtone environment. Further, the sparks should still
stand out against this midtone environment.
            Again, aint nuttin like an instant film image (calibrated to
your Provia) to tell you what you will get. Looking at it you can easily
change the relationship between the flame/sparks and the environment by
changing the lighting ratio.
The shutter speed can help with this as well as it has no effect on the
strobe exposure (within limits) as the Blad synchs up to a 500th (if you
are using the in-lens leaf shutter) but will vary the ambient light exposure
in relation to the strobe.
            I hope I havent made any more mistakes.
                                                CHEERS!
                                                            BOB

 Please check my website: http://www.bobkiss.com/ <http://www.bobkiss.com/>

-----Original Message-----
From: Barry Kleider [mailto:bkleider@sihope.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 12:14 AM
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
Subject: lens questions - redux

thanks to all for offering two cents (and more) on this question.

In reading through the responses, I have some clarifications and some extra
questions.

First, a clarification: Provia is a transparency film, so the negs being
dark = underexposure, not overexposure. (It's also possible that I pushed
the film instead of pulling it, and two stops might have been too much.)

Exposure comp on the D-1 was set to 0 - unless it automatically protects
itself from burning out.

I hadn't thought of using a Polaroid to test the 'blad. Duh!

Here's a question: Bob is suggesting hitting the scene with a massive light
source. Wouldn't that destroy any chance of grabbing the flying sparks? (I
can imagine using a fill flash to give some depth to the face shields,
gloves work area, etc. but it seems all the magic of welding is in the
fire/heat/spark. Maybe this is a is a difference in artistic approach.)

Barry

Barry Kleider wrote:
Last week, I was shooting some welders.

My ultimate goal was to shoot them with a Hasselblad and a 150 f4 lens. (No
internal meter.)

Since these exposures are obviously tricky, I started with my Nikon D-1 and
a Tamron 28-70 f2.8

I was getting some decent exposures - nothing great, but certainly within
tolerance for a first attempt. So I decided to switch over to the Hassy
using the same readings.

Since the Nikon was running at ISO 200 and my provia is 100, I gave it a
full stop. I got the lab results today: $%#^$%. (Translation: way too dark
and looks like s**t.)

So my question is: what's the relationship between a medium format Hassy
with a 150 f4 lens, and a 35mm Nikon with a 28-70 f2.8 lens (running close
to 70 if not full on)?

I assume there's a very straight-forward (though possibly hard to follow)
explanation having to do with the difference in lens designs rather than a
format comparison or a digital vs. analog thing (as my lab guy surmised.)

Barry
Received on Thu Jul 7 07:07:19 2005