metering for sunrise/sunset shots and night shots

[yeppie99]

how do u guys go about taking such shots?

1) for sunrise/sunset, do u just compose, use evaluative metering or you partial meter somewhere else? how about under/overexpose? for eg, to get the rich colours.

2) for night shots, eg some buildings at the bottom with the moon above it. how/where to meter for the moon to look like a moon and not a glow?

 

[erwinx]

bracket. though most of the time, matrix meterings recommended exposure is the one i prefer.

 

[mervlam]

Originally posted by yeppie99
how do u guys go about taking such shots?

1) for sunrise/sunset, do u just compose, use evaluative metering or you partial meter somewhere else? how about under/overexpose? for eg, to get the rich colours.

2) for night shots, eg some buildings at the bottom with the moon above it. how/where to meter for the moon to look like a moon and not a glow?

1) i typically overexpose negs by 1/3 stop. eg ISO 400 film at EI 320. i use evaluative metering for sunrise or sunset. if u want more colors from the sky, try overexposing a little ie. decrease shutter speed.


2) use multiple exposure. expose the moon at the inverse of the ISO speed of the film at f/16 first. eg ISO 400 film at 1/400s with f/16. then superimpose the buildings on the dark areas. be careful not to overlap the moon.

Here's one example:

 

[yeppie99]

this is a film technique or digital? if film, do u mean shoot the sky with the moon only at f16 then multiple exposure some buildings below?

 

[mervlam]

Originally posted by yeppie99
this is a film technique or digital? if film, do u mean shoot the sky with the moon only at f16 then multiple exposure some buildings below?

this is done using film. one exposure of moon, then another exposure of building on ONE frame.

always shoot the moon (shoot the moon?? hehehe) at f/16 with 1/(ISO speed of film). It's at f/16 because of the Sunny 16 Rule. Why Sunny 16? Because the moon is basically sunlit, remember? oh, that's for the FULL moon, u may try at f/8 for quarter or half moon. i havent try yet ;p

 

[munfai]

answer to question 1:

even with evaluative/matrix/14-segment/etc metering, chances are your shot will be slightly underexposed. by how much really depends on your camera. on the Dynax 7, i find that i need to correct by about +2/3 stop.

using spot metering here would be easier. pick something close to grey and meter that. otherwise, pick a patch of orange sky and overexpose by 1/3 stop.

experiment!!! i quote my preferences, and are based on my camera's behaviour. yours might be different...

 

[Bean]

Originally posted by mervlam


1) i typically overexpose negs by 1/3 stop. eg ISO 400 film at EI 320. i use evaluative metering for sunrise or sunset. if u want more colors from the sky, try overexposing a little ie. decrease shutter speed.

Shouldn't more colours from the sky be achieved by a little underexposure instead of overexposure which will burn out the colour of the available light?

:dunno:

 

[MaGixShOe]

Originally posted by Bean



Shouldn't more colours from the sky be achieved by a little underexposure instead of overexposure which will burn out the colour of the available light?

:dunno:

i though so too

 

[Eric]

I think you can get more control if you spot meter. If you want some foreground detail (e.g. texture of the sand on the beach), you may want to meter on the sand and then compensate from there. If you want a silhouette, then meter on the sky and go from there.

Graduated Neutral Density filters may be helpful to reduce the contrast between sky and foreground, if you want some foreground detail.

Me being a newbie, I normally bracket 2/3 to 1 EV on both directions.

 

[Midnight]

If you're using digital for landscape shots, try spot metering on the foreground to take your photo of the foreground, then increase your exposure value by between 2/3 and 1-1/3 EV to take the sky, then merge the two photos in software post-processing. Or you can just take a whole series of shots of the same scene at various exposure settings and see which two give you the best results for the foreground and for the sky, then merge those two.

This gives a result that is pretty similar to using a graduated ND filter, but it is a bit more flexible in that it won't look as strange if you have a horizon that is not a simple horizontal line (eg. if you're taking a city skyline shot). The main disadvantages are that you will (a) need to spend quite some time in Photoshop or whatever; and (b) you need to line up the two exposures exactly (so use a tripod).

 

[ckiang]

Originally posted by Bean



Shouldn't more colours from the sky be achieved by a little underexposure instead of overexposure which will burn out the colour of the available light?

:dunno:

If I am not wrong, it works the other way for negatives....

Regards
CK