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The man makes metering that scene 100X more difficult than it actually is. First, it is an overcast day and he says there is pretty much 6 stops of light in that scene and he is going to do N-1 development. I don't see any reason for that. This is not slide film. You could do N+1 or N+2 under those conditions. BW film can easily capture 10 stops of light developing normally and 15 stops if you compress the highlights. So I don't see why you'd want to compress the highlights on a low contrast scene! Perhaps he mistakingly said the wrong thing.
Secondly, a one-degree spot meter would meter that scene in just a few seconds if you have any experience with your BW film and one of those meters. Point it at the shadow area, place that value say 3 stops below your middle gray exposure and you're done. Don't even worry where the highlights will fall. You will get them with no problem on a day like that. You may even want to expand them with a N+1 or N+2 development and any exposure compensation if needed for that film/developer combo. And really if you know your BW film, you don't even need a light meter at all for daytime shooting. The EV value of shadows is easy to learn for sunny and overcast days for where you live. Meter for the shadow and development for the highlights is where sheet film can do well.
I use the Sunny 11 Rule for my latitude and especially in the fall/winter time. So without a meter the Sunny 11 Rule says his EI250 rated Tri-X exposure would be f11 at 1/250. Open 2 stops if you can't see a shadow and you get f11 at 1/60 = f45 at 1/4 = his final exposure after all that.
Last edited by tuco; 12-07-2014 at 01:26 PM.
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Post #2 by tuco
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