Long Exposures

[Krzys]

I will be photographing the nearby motorway from atop a hill tonight. The residential and industrial surrounds will be included as well as the ocean in the background. Hopefully there will be some remaining clouds, but not too many.

Just looking at some general advice on how to bracket the shots tonight.

I am looking at shooting at around f/16 to f/8 on hp5 at 400asa - mainly because I want to use up this faster film and load fp4 asap. How long do you think the exposures should last? I generally want there to be enough light emanating from the suburbs to show general detail, yet not enough to blow out the lights of the motorway.

ivin.info/download/Films/HP5_Plus.pdf the Hp5+ data sheet detailing reciprocity compensation and some opinions here, http://photo.net/black-and-white-photo-film-processing-forum/00AiJS

I am thinking of shooting 1', 5', 15', 30', 60' at f/16 and 1", 30", 1', 5', 15', 30' at f/8

Though this is a complete guess.

Thoughts?

I could always do a very very long exposure and develop in Diafine, which should guarantee highlights in tact...I might do this with a second roll....

[Kym]

The last evening/night shoot meetup (sunsets) we had at Hallet Cove; Hoffy used his digital and got a good exposure than used that information to set his film camera.

Your exposures look about right to me - so just go for it. If it is traffic try the smaller aperture and longer shutter to get nice light trails.

This was f/16, 30 seconds, ISO 100 http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=39427

[Krzys]

How much did he compensate for reciprocity?

There is copied from the data sheet

10" = 25"
15" = 50"
25" = 2'

Then the chart caps off in a straight line so I am assuming that I will need to expose for 3-5 times longer than what the meter tells me. Hence why I'm trying to find a suitable bracket.

[ricktas]

I have done the same, used my D3 to meter the scene and get a shutter speed, then set my film camera up to match those settings.

[Krzys]

But at times longer than 1/2 a second hp5 looses its speed and your exposures will be 3 stops underexposed at a minimum :confused013

Alot of films are similar, if not worse.

[ricktas]

Havent shot with HP5, only shoot generally with Velvia, Reala, and the occasional mono, and must admit I haven't done long exposure film shots since the 80's

[Krzys]

A friend of mine shoots a lot of velvia at night and his general exposure is 30 minutes at f/8 or 5.6

[Krzys]

Atop the hill I shot at f/8 for 1" 5" 30" 1' 5' 15' with 400asa film.
Then I went down to some open fields and a nearby tower with very fast moving clouds behind at f/8 for 30" 1' 5'
Then went to a bridge which provides a good position to shoot a very archaic looking tree. I don't know how clear these shots will be since there were cars driving up and down the bridge. f/8 for 5' and f/5.6 for 2'

Ugh so many hoons out last night. I got egged more than once. They missed though. A bunch of drunken teenagers seemed keen to annoy me when they saw my tripod but then realized I was a friend from school. Interesting.

It was still a nice night alone on that hill.