Description: Gardenia in low sunlight
Background: Using exposure compensation was one of the trickiest things for me to apply properly with film because of the lag between shooting and viewing the result. Accounting for backlighting was easy, and backlit frames usually turned out as hoped. But flowers proved to be more difficult, especially on film, because film stocks vary in how they behave. For example, Kodak Ektar will turn red flowers into featureless blobs unless it is shot at least at -1.5 EC. Don’t even think about shooting in any kind of direct lighting. Yellow flowers can be just as bad. I’ve taken to shooting them only in shade. No matter what camera I use, the meter cannot compensate in even moderate light. Yellow flowers have to be shot at -1.5 to -2 EC or in shade. Kodak Portra tends to handle yellow flowers well, and even red in subdued light. Kodak Gold 200 in 120 using a Pentax 645 captured a red rose perfectly, even in sunlight—I have no explanation for that. White flowers are a different matter.
Getting sufficient detail in white flowers often requires shooting at +1 EC or more. Most of my cameras cannot compensate adequately automatically and tend to underexpose the frame with a dominant white flower. On B&W film, this shows up as increased graininess. My gardenia decided to burst into bloom this spring after a severe pruning. So, I decided to try perfecting my approach to white flowers—this is the result.
Technical: Minolta Maxxum 7D, Minolta AF 70-210, f4.5, +1.5 EC, 180mm, 1/200, ISO 400.
Image meets my expectation? Yes! I use digital cameras to experiment with settings, which I then try on film. Next, I think I’ll try this with an XD5, Porta 160, and a tripod and do +1, 1.5, and 2 EC.
I’ve only occasionally shot flowers, mostly with my XD7, but have actually had great luck with Ultramax 400 for this. Maybe I just get lucky haha. I am always scared to use the exposure compensation for fear I’ll ruin a shot. Absolutely beautiful picture, love seeing your garden!
The main lesson I’ve learned is never shoot red or yellow in direct sunlight. Ultramax is forgiving in low light settings. The next challenge for me is how to do this in a studio using a flash.