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E6 and spot meter reading for portraits?


Jon Warwick

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I will be taking portraits (Caucasian skin, and one is a child with slightly more porcelain complexion) with Ektachrome 100 on the M7. I have a separate handheld 1% reflected spot meter. No grey card to help out. Is reflected metering off the skin to assume 18% mid grey and then opening +1 stop always exactly right in this scenario, or +1 perhaps too much?

 

Edited by Jon Warwick
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I don´t think that this measurement and then "Guessing" component will be more accurate than the built in meter of the M7.

Tob be sure I would recommend an external meter with incident light metering right in front of the face towards the camera, this

ist the most precise method. It takes all the worries about different contrast areas, highlights and shawdows in the frame away.

 

 

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Sounds right to me, Jon. If I couldn't meter otherwise I'd always meter off the palm of my hand in equivalent light and then open up a stop, and I never had an issue with caucasian skin. But Fotoklaus is right in that an incident light reading would be preferable if possible. I'd personally also use Portra 160 in preference to the Ektachrome for delicate skin tones.

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I agree. Assuming they are not wearing black clothing or white clothing, I would meter with the averaging meter in the M7. Typically there is something in a studio or someone's home that is close enough to stand in for 18% grey if you are concerned. You might consider bracketing a bit too...it is 35mm after all, you have so many shots!

Any reason you chose E6 for the portraits? 35mm E6 is probably the least forgiving way to make a portrait...especially that you can't get your hands on Astia or EPN anymore.

Edited by Stuart Richardson
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3 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

 

Any reason you chose E6 for the portraits? 35mm E6 is probably the least forgiving way to make a portrait...especially that you can't get your hands on Astia or EPN anymore.

It might be because I like to make things difficult for myself 😀, but actually it’s also because I prefer the way E6 scans over C41 (I’ve mainly always used Provia and also the renewed Ektachrome), for some reason I tend to get drum scans back that seem smoother, cleaner and with less color noise with E6 ….possibly a reflection of the scan operator’s relative expertise than anything.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts above too, it was helpful.

Edited by Jon Warwick
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14 hours ago, Jon Warwick said:

I will be taking portraits (Caucasian skin, and one is a child with slightly more porcelain complexion) with Ektachrome 100 on the M7. I have a separate handheld 1% reflected spot meter. No grey card to help out. Is reflected metering off the skin to assume 18% mid grey and then opening +1 stop always exactly right in this scenario, or +1 perhaps too much?

 

I find the common old adage of +1 on face *a bit* much for slides. +0.5 would be more appropriate I think, to be on the safe side. My take is, even if the skin is exceptionally fair and indeed would "require" +1 stop to be rendered "correctly", it won't look great if it falls on the upper end of the slide's latitude. Slightly darker would *probably* look more pleasing as an end result, even if it's not "correct".

Since you have no gray card and no incident meter, I wouldn't bother with the external spot meter. Your camera's meter is pretty close to a spot meter for this application, I'm sure at portrait distances and framing, the metering patch only covers the face anyway (or maybe part of it even). Use the camera's meter in aperture priority, dial in half a stop of overexposure (or 1/3rd on the dial), and if a shot is very promising, bracket. You'll get fine results doing so. 

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Why not take an incident light reading? Sekonic spot meters also have a dome for incident light reading, but I do not know what type you have. I bought a Sekonic L208 as a pocket meter just to be sure when using medium format. 

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