Rikenon 1.7/50 on Ricoh KR5 ....400ASA Kodak gold

[mo]

Hi all,Here are some more film photos scanned at a shop then put onto my computer via disc.I like this lens.I am putting up a few different photos in the hope you can help me where I am going wrong with the exposure/speed as some show the grain and some are better in clarity etc.I am trying to narrow down what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong so I can adjust accordingly.
F16/500 evening sun from the right of picture

F16/250

F1.7/500


F16/500

F1.7/500 looking towards sun,it is lower in the sky going behind a hill.

F16/60 again towards the sun as it goes down,I am on a slope.

Thanks for any tips and insight!This is my thought on what may be wrong I am to high on the shutter speed settings when I use the higher F stop.I am happy with #3 as I was trying for the bokeh

[marty]

Hi, Mo-Fo. #1 is probably underexposed, the print has been made brighter to sort of compensate for that (It would have been way darker). You can tell that by the hazy look, washed out colors, graininess and lack of detail in the shadows. You see, the foreground is in shadow while the background is brighter and that tricked the meter. Solution: overexpose by 1/2 or a full stop from the meter reading or use a flash to expose the foreground. #4 same problem. The remainder looks more or less ok. The experience will lead you to recognize immediately this situation and take your counter measures just before pressing the shutter. Remember that the meter is trying to average the exposure across the frame ( to put it in simple terms) and when there are great variations in luminance between different areas of the frame one of these areas will prevail leading the other on the opposite side (if one is too bright the other is going to be too dark, or the opposite).
When unsure (when you feel the illumination of the scene in very uneven) a good practice is bracketing the exposure that is taking a shot at meter reading, one a stop under, one a stop over (going in half stops is even better). You will then choose the frame which looks better (and you'll know what's ok for the next time you'll be facing a similar scene).
Hope this helps.

Cheers, Marty.

[mo]

Thank you so much,it helps a great deal.I only have a film camera so not sure if you can use the "bracketing" technique.
You are so right about the dark and light areas...I have a few other exposures that are doing the same.Standing in shadow shooting into lightened areas.

[F16SUNSHINE]

Hi MoFo
Marty has it and gives great advice.
I would only add just a couple little methods to help train your eye a bit for metering.

Teach yourself to recognize the differences in brightness of a particular scene.
One way to do this is to make your eye a sort of spot meter.

For example try this sequence.
Compose a scene using the VF so that you have a good idea of the frame you will expose.
Now take the camera away from your eye. Close your hand into a child's "telescope" and look through it at different parts of the scene.
Your making your eye into a sort of spot meter. As you move around you take not of the differences in brightness of a scene.
Now take the camera with meter on to the brightest area and compare to the darkest. Also measure the are which is most important to be exposed correctly.
Take note of the differences in exposure value the meter is telling you.
You now have a good idea of what areas may be over or under exposed in order to expose correctly your main subject.

Experiment with this method until you have your eye trained to look for where to meter for "average" automatically.

In your first frame using ISO 400 film. My guess would be that f5.6-f8 and 1/500sec would have exposed the foliage cleanly but would blow out the sky.
You will have to decide where your compromises will be in any given frame.
Have fun

[mo]

Thank you,great tip and homework

[estudleon]

[marty]

[cooltouch]

Good avdvice, all. Just to add to it a bit -- don't hesitate to employ the sunny f/16 rule. Even if your camera has an accurate meter.

Simply stated, for a scene in bright sun conditions, setting the lens aperture to f/16 and the shutter speed to a value that is closest to the reciprocal of the film speed will yield correct exposure. E.g., for ISO 100 film, the correct exposure for a scene brightly lit by the sun would be 1/125 @ f/16. For ISO 200, 1/250 @ f/16. For ISO 400, 1/500 @ f/16. Or any equivalent value, of course. E.g., at ISO 100, 1/125 @ f/16 is equivalent to 1/250 @ f/11 or 1/500 @ f/8, etc.

This rule works very well, even for slide film with its notoriously narrow exposure lattitude.

The one notable exception to the Sunny f/16 rule that I'm aware of is when taking photos of predominantly white subjects. Think swan or cockatoo or a snow scene. In these instances, it should become the Sunny f/22 rule.

[mo]

I can not thank you enough for all your input, I hope others will find this as helpful as I have

[mo]

This is the lens in question,note the ding on the front...probably why I got it in a mixed bag for cheap