exposure in wide shots

[85hal9000]

thanks again for previous answer!

would like to know how do you deal with exposure in wider extorior shots, where subject is not so important in frame.
especially in different sun condition (back, side, front - light). what's the best metering way to get a well exposed negative?

thanks a lot. MATTEO

 

[David Mullen ASC]

The landscape now becomes your subject and you expose for how you want it to look. In normal day exteriors, it generally isn't tricky -- if the shot is backlit, I usually just read the sun directly and then open up one stop so that the backlit highlights are a little hot and the shadows are naturally dark.

But it depends on the subject: if the landscape is of a backlit ocean and hot sky, or of something framed against a dramatic sky, or a snowy landscape -- I might underexpose a little more, like expose the backlit landscape as if it were frontlit so as to preserve the bright highlight information, maybe even underexpose another stop for a more stylized effect with silhouettes against the bright areas, especially if I have a hot glare off of the ground and water to deal with.

But you could also overexpose a landscape to make it feel hotter, like in the desert, with open shadows and bright highlights.

Sometimes I use Polas and ND grads to control the brighter areas of the frame, or to reduce glare.