Wednesday, November 17, 2010

An Old Dog uses an older trick

So it started off as an easy assignment.
Take a staff photo in front of the building. Can't be that tough. I have the best gear.

They said they wanted to make a large print of the shot so I decided to shoot it on the Sony Alpha A850 which is a full-frame 24mg camera. I brought along the Zeiss 24-70mm F2.8 which is one of the nicest zooms on the market.

They rented a scissor truck, we tested the angle, but the meter reading was right out to lunch. I could not get a reading that made any sense at all. Not off the pavement, not off the lawn, not on Program, not on Aperture Priority, forget manual..... it was all over the place.

I ended up metering off my hand and opening up one stop.... a technique I haven't had to use for years..... yet it was the only reading that made any sense.

These modern cameras... so many features, but I still couldn't get a good reading without using an old trick.
Rob Skeoch
www.thepicturedesk.ca

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