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CLASS MAY 8, 2001

Basic Daylight Exposure

After answering questions, we began class with a discussion of Basic Daylight Exposure (BDE, or Sunny f16 rule). If you need a review, check out the article on EXPOSURE.

Adding the Moon to An Evening Landscape

We then discussed how to a double exposure to add the moon into an evening landscape or cityscape. The procedure is simple. Pick an evening when the moon is full or close to full.  Sometime after sunset when there is still an attractive mixture of light in the western sky, compose your landscape in the viewfinder.  Decide where in the sky you will put the moon. You will be doing a double exposure on one frame of film (read you camera manual to see how to do double exposures). Expose your landscape (or cityscape) based on a meter reading of the sky. Use exposure compensation if necessary to make a particular area of the sky lighter or darker than medium toned.

Your second exposure will be of the full or nearly full moon.  For a normal looking moon, put on a 100 mm lens. For a larger looking moon, use a 200 mm or 300 mm lens.  Put the moon in the location in the sky that you chose while doing the landscape exposure.  The exposure for the full moon will be BDE +2. With 100 speed slide film, this will be f/8 at 1/125 second.  If the sky is still pretty light around the moon, wait to add your full moon to the double exposure until the sky is darker.

You can do this procedure at other times of the month than near the full moon by changing the moon exposure.  For 1st or last quarter, try BDE +3. For a fingernail moon, try BDE +5.

Flash and Flower Photography

The second topic for the evening was using Flash in nature photography. We tested flash units to get a good idea of their Guide Numbers.

The next topic for the evening was Flower photography. We looked at closeup techniques, controlling the background, using long lenses at wide apertures to isolate flowers, and using wide angle lenses at small apertures for maximum depth of field. Most flowers look best in soft light.  They also generally look better when photographed from "their eye level", not from human eye level.

Assignment

We went outside to do a double exposure of the moon and a cityscape but clouds blocked the moon until much later in the evening. Be sure and try this on your own.

Try some flower photography.

Bring slides to show in class next week.

Field Trips

Thursday evening, Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery at 8:30 PM, we will do sunset and star photos, weather permitting.  Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery is 6 miles west of US 131 on M-43.

Saturday we will be at Sarett Nature Center.  We will meet at Sarett Nature Center at 6 PM. From the parking lot, head south to the trail head and follow the signs to the River Trail and then to the boardwalk covered Gentian Trail. Most of the flowers will be along the Gentian Trail or on the way to the Gentian Trail.  At around 8:00 PM we will head for St. Joseph at the south pier to do sunset photography starting around 8:30 PM.

Sarett Nature Center is just east of Benton Harbor.  Go west on I-94 to I-196 (Exit 34), then go north on I-196 for one mile.  Exit at Red Arrow Highway.  Go west on Red Arrow Highway just a little over 1/2 mile to Benton Center Road and go north on Benton Center about 0.7 miles to Sarett Nature Center.  There will be signs to Sarett as soon as you exit at Red Arrow Highway.

May 9, 2001
Updated May 10, 2001

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