Tunnel pics

[Amphoteric]

Hello again,

Recently I tried to photograph a tunnel (or hallway, or forest, or anything "deep") and have found that I have lighting issues. Lets say that I want to take a picture of a hallway where infront of me the light is normal (not bright) and it fades going down the hallway. Any attempt at taking said photo results in either the whole picture being way too dark, or the front being nice while the rest drops into black. Can anyone assist me in discovering the best way to capture an environment like that? Thanks

 

[Digital Matt]

First of all, I think you need to learn how to use your meter, and learn more about exposure. Light is not normal, bright, or dark. It's carefully measured, and to get a good exposure, you have to be able to read the light you are working in.

Check out this book. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0817463003/bookstorenow57-20

There's really no way that any of us can tell you how to expose a scene, without being there with you, and having the opportunity to meter the different values.

 

[nossie]

HDR - Cheat Cheat Cheat like hell.. Take 5 exposures and combine them in CS3.

 

[chris]

You have come up against one of the limitations of photography - limited dynamic range, especially when compared to the ability of the human eye. Digital still lags a bit behind film for range but even with film you would have problems recording the whole scene without blowing out the highlights and blocking out the dark tones.

You have to either decide which part of the scene is important and expose for that, introduce additional lighting or resort to HDR techniques.

 

[nossie]

Digital still lags a bit behind film for range but even with film you would have problems recording the whole scene without blowing out the highlights and blocking out the dark tones.

Not so sure about that anymore, it does depend on the film and the Digital Camera.

While I don't like this guy's test he does claim that 1DS II has more range that 2 types of film.

 

[Amphoteric]

I figure HDR is my best bet. Either that, or hand blending several images. The problem I have is in taking the images. Also, I know there are more than 3 types of like (normal, bright, and dark). I am not an idiot :lmao:. I am just trying to discover if there are optimal settings for such a situation. Currently I have my light metering set to Nikkon's (D40) Matrix metering system which samples several places in a shot. Should I be using a single or dynamic metering instead? As I grow to understand photography more, it is the array of settings and options available that become to most difficult to learn. (And before you say it, I do practice every day).

 

[Digital Matt]

I wonder what photographers did before HDR. I guess they just took crappy pictures

 

[Helen B]

Yep. Nothing but crappy pictures for the previous hundred and more years. What a waste, waiting for digital. Why wasn't it invented first? Damn them.

'Painting with light' is/was a common way of taking pictures of tunnels and caves, but having a bright light at one end does mess up the procedure. Multiple-exposure HDR and tone mapping are possible with film, but it is a laborious procedure, unless you use digital post-processing.

Film continues to get better and better, so digital is trying to catch up to a moving target in terms of dynamic range. We have colour film capable of fifteen stops of dynamic range now (which makes single-shot HDR and tone mapping a breeze), but you don't always want that much - hence the attraction of something like Velvia.

Best,
Helen