Now that we are entering the cloudier time of year(snow,rain,fog) what are some suggestions to come out with pictures that aren't flat? In the past most of my pictures shot on cloudy days are flat in texture and detail; not enough contrast.

-- (moschika@sirius.com), November 06, 1997

Answers

Your images on cloudy days have no need to be too flat. You can control this by choice of exposure, filtration and processing both in the camera and in the darkroom. I prefer cloudy times for many images as the very lack of contrast allows more shadow detail and helps to preserve highlight detail without going through too many darkroom gymnastics. Try shooting with TMax films as they really zip up the contrast scale. But, if you are a sloppy worker you won't be able to control the film & your next question will be about how to control high contrast. good luck

-- dan smith (shooter@brigham.net), November 06, 1997.

This is the reason my standard B&W development is for high contrast: I live in the UK, where the sky is mostly a murky gray: we just don't get contrast from shadows. My problem is handling shadows, we get so few of them, I forget what they are.

Longer film development highlights whatever textures you do have.

A bigger problem with a white sky is bringing out the form of the subject: how do you indicate roundness without a light top and dark bottom? One solution is with viewpoint and angle of view. Get in close with a wide-angle lens.

Incidentally, I too prefer flat lighting, and not just because that is all we get. It is also far more constant throughout the day, and from one day to the next. The detail you get, and the tonal contrasts, are inherent in the subject, rather than because the sun happened to be out.

-- Alan Gibson (gibson.al@mail.dec.com), November 07, 1997.

This is an area that is often under-understood. One thing to consider when selecting a film type for specific situations.General recommendation is that slower speed films be used in low contrast situations. The reason for this is that slower speed film have a higher contrast index than faster films. Another method of working is to underexpose the subject and then overdevelop. It should be noted that by underexpose, it is ment the highlight. Meaning that yu would expose for your shadow detail (which would result in a "normal " exposure for that area. But as a result, in most cases, with a flat subject, you would be underexposing the highlight. The result would be the having to extend development to push the highlight back up to the desired density.

-- jim megargee (mvjim@interport.net), November 07, 1997.

There is something about photography that makes some people think the point must be drawing with light. So many pictures are bathed in light and the truth of objects may be hidden. On Cloudy days, on the other hand, without the distortion of the light and shadows it is possible to reveal the thing itself. Ding an sich. The camoflage is dropped and the essence of the object itself is uncovered. This is often the point of my prints, but I don't know specifically how I do it, each print is different, except it is the point and I observe for it and then I expose and print for it. I intentionally attempt to strip the light from my images. To look at the world without shadows..

-- jim Ryder (jimryder12@aol.com), November 11, 1997.

Try this, Ilford HP5 plus and develop it in Kodak HC-110! Dont be shy 'bout developing for a couple minutes longer than the recommended times. P.S., it took me three years to figure that out!

-- (russellluke@attworldnet.att.net), December 02, 1997.

Re: Cloudy days

Quick suggestion: nex time you are in an airplane, take your camera along and shoot pictures out the window. This works especially well when the sun is really intense. I got a really amazing picture of an endless bed of cloulds (accented with a No. 5 filter in the darkroom) with the sun directly in the middle of my frame, and offset with a eye-grabbing subject-the wing (which curiously proved to be very asthetically appealing).

-- Ian Roberts (r1223@corecom.net), December 20, 1997.