Velvia 50 tips

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

http://forum.manualfocus.org/viewtopic.php?id=9704

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Shooting with Velvia is not different than with any other slide film, in that you have to care about the highlights.

Most people, me included, like to shoot slide film with some underexposure, because this deepens natural colours and give a nicer result once projected on a wall screen (which is the natural destination of the slides).
This of course is a bit of "rough reasoning", because there is NOT REALLY underexposure... only a different reading. And I explain why I say this:

Most people (me included, when I am on vacation) guiltily shoots slides like if it was negative film, i.e., they trust the centre weighted meter of their camera. At the most, if they are a bit evoluted, they point the camera to a point they consider meaningful, then recompose.

Needless to say, this is a risky way to shoot slides. First you need a really good working centre weighted meter in your camera, and not all cameras have that (some are quite rough, especially in the old cameras that were build for mostly negative film use, maybe even B&W)

The REAL way to shoot slides would be to meter different parts of the image with a semispot meter then make the average. Only with this method, you have the clear idea where your shadows and highlights fall.
A comparison with a reading made with incident light, if possible, wouldn't hurt at all.

From this type of reading, the experienced photographer never misses one exposure.

And this is THE way to shoot not just Velvia, but all other slides.
When you read "underexpose slides" is really a rough reasoning, because it implies to do it from a centre weighted reading which may or may not be correct. Let's say that doing this will give you a slight margin of error more than shooting dead on a centre weighted reading. But if the centre reading is wrong, your underexposed slide will look remedyless grey and dull.

By the way, doing the underexposure trick on the Velvia with the purpose of saturating colours, makes really no sense, because the colors are already saturated. On the contrary, a slight overexposure might mitigate the oversaturation of the Velvia, to a nicer result with things like buildings or portraits which are not suited for the "Velvia look". But again, this is still rough reasoning. The real way is always to meter the scene selectively and make averages.

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Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Thank you for this vital information!

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

I wish I could come and spend a day with you on one of your outings Orio! Very Happy

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

We definitely need to meet in 2009/2010!!

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04