Gossen Foto- und Lichtmesstechnik GmbH
35
Nighttime Atmosphere
If you want to accurately capture a nighttime
atmosphere with a lot of darkness and very little detail,
it’s best to use less exposure time than indicated by
your STARLITE 2, in order to assure that the image
doesn’t look like a daytime recording. There are no
fixed rules in this case. In order to gain experience,
start with image recordings for which you can use the
values displayed at the STARLITE 2 without changing
them.
In the Snow
Due to the surrounding snow-covered landscape,
object measurement will generally result in too little
exposure. Portions of the motif which are important for
the image would be underexposed due to the
extraordinarily high reflectivity of snow. In order to
adjust the measurement, record the image at plus 1 to
1½ exposure values.
However, incident light measurement is the better
solution. It provides correct measurement results in a
direct fashion. If you want to include special effects,
for example emphasize fine nuances in shadows
within the snow, subtract roughly ½ of a step from the
adjusted value.
You can measure any photographic scene correctly
with the STARLITE 2. Don’t forget that too much may
be demanded of the film itself in the event of
extremely high object contrast.
The Zone System
Use of the zone system allows the photographer to
evaluate differing brightness within the motif from an
exposure standpoint such that (adapted to the output
medium) an adequate tonal range and sufficient detail
are present, even in bright and dark areas within the
motif.
The measurement results obtained with the light meter
correspond to the mean gray tone (18% reflection) in
the zone V tone scale. Thanks to consistent
application of the definitions for the individual zones,
the STARLITE 2 is capable of allocating the measured
value to a given zone specified by the photographer.
This value, ascertained with zone 5, is set in the
defined zones depending upon the effect to be
achieved in the output medium.
In actual practice, for well know reasons, the digital
photographer looks for this first measured value in the
brightest part of the motif which still shows adequate
detail.
This eliminates exposure uncertainty to a great extent,
because with the system, the photographer is able to
visually plan the final results in advance before each
image is recorded.