My uncle's old-school advice about metering was totally backward

My uncle who shot film back in the 70s told me to always meter for the highlights and let the shadows fall where they may. Tried that on a roll of Portra 400 during a bright afternoon shoot at the park. Everything came out way underexposed, the shadows were just black blobs. I finally looked it up and realized for color negative film you're supposed to meter for the shadows instead. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from a veteran who learned on different film stocks?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler61428d ago

And honestly I used to tell people the same thing because thats just what I had heard forever. Then I actually shot a roll of Portra 160 exactly like you did and just got muddy shadows with no detail. It really clicked for me that negative film has way more latitude in the highlights than slide film ever did, so you have to protect the shadows.

nora53528d ago

Guess I owe my old Portra 400 some apologies then.