h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If your after exposures for astro photography try these

http://www.u-net.com/ph/mas/projects/calc/calc.htm
http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/astro/astrezip.html

I'm searching out something more generally useful and will get back to you

TSF

Sorry I dont have a foolproof formula as such but:-

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/ac61/

The info found at this address is from one particular film manufacturer (clue in address), but the film speeds are an international standard so it should work at least as well for any other make.
Use this as a starting point and bracket one stop either side. If it's a not to be repeated photo opportunity then bracket one and two stops either side.

That said, if you're out taking pics at night and dont have access to all that info, take a meter reading from something that's roughly mid-way between the brightest and the darkest parts of your chosen scene and use that as a starting point.
Ex. Street scene at night, maybe some streetlighting, some lit shop windows, deep dark shadows and somewhere in between there's something like a concrete pavement, not brightly lit but not dark shade either. Take a reading from that. Then if you want more detail in the shadows you would need to over-expose a little, or if the lit stuff in windows is more important then maybe under-expose a little. Still best to bracket though.

Trying to put all this stuff into words that make sense (hope it does)has made me realise that I've never really used any "system" for calculating exposures other than estimation!

Exposure time for this one-
http://www.the-snockerty-friddle.co.uk/album_page3.htm
was about 25-30 seconds, aperture probably f11 give or take a stop (sorry, dont keep details like that).

Blimey I hope that's useful to someone

just knowing there is someone who knows something about this is useful
thanks snockerty

I've taken long-exposure photographs, too. I usually rely on intuition, too. The problem with this system is that sometimes intuition results in very bad pictures.
Also, I've found that slide film gets much better colors than negative film, and you can get prints if you want later. I would also recommend experimenting with alternative film types such as tungsten.

Absolutely! But I think there's plenty to learn from bad pictures, especially if you can be bothered to keep notes about exposure times and aperture sizes while you're out taking pictures.
I never could be bothered.

Hello,

Great entry. I learned a lot, thaks. Just for me to know: Are you going to include the suggestions (ie aperture, exposure time calculus etc.)? Otherwise, I would say the entry is quite complete, original, useful and all other good stuff you could say about an entry.

HELL

Have not tried night photos yet.
Your article has certainly encouraged me to try.
I normally use slide film because I like the level of colour saturation one gets (I use Fuji ISO 50, 100 or 200).
Have started to play with high speed B&W film stock because the graininess gives some interesting effects too.
Thankfully I normally keep notes of exposure times, apertures, etc. etc.
Have heard of the black card thing before, but i also seem to recall something about a grey card and calibrating internal metering? Does this sound reasonable

I had to take a photo of a broken up pot the other day while it wa on the floor and i was on a chair. i had to not include:my feet, reflection from the skylight, reflection from the flash lamps, the floor, while insuring that i did include: all of the very large exploded pot.

somehow i dont think this is going to come out well!

Nice article. Any chance of a section/paragraph on astrophotography? Please?

Woodpigeon

Woodpidgeon, Yes I'm working on another piece to go into a bit more detail on things like that and some of the points raised above.

Ross, grey card, yes see post 22 and use grey card instead of wall/concrete etc for initial light reading.

Hell, ta very much!

FABT, How did the broken pot shot come out?

it's not developed yet so i'll have to let you know when it's come back. i hope it worked though because i have stuck all the bits back together now!

FABT

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Congratulations!

Ta very much!

TSF

Sorry for being somewhat late but anyway...

Let's switch off the lights and cheer!

Congratulations!

Cheers
s all round

YAY for Snockerty Friddle!

Hi TSF,

I just dropped in to tell you that I've been given your fabulous entry to subedit. It's nearly finished, and you could see it at A765696 in case you're interested. If you see something that needs attention, please feel free to drop me a note.

SchrEck Inc.