Bob Walkden wrote: In Africa I've usually shot on slide film (K64), at least in recent years. The contrast is too great most of the time so my solution has been never to shoot until my shadow is longer than my height, or the weather is slightly overcast. In the highlands of Ethiopia it is viciously contrasty and never overcast, so I only shoot when shadows are very long indeed. I get up at about 5am and shoot from before sunrise until about 8-9am, at which time I find some shade or do something non-photographic until about 4pm, when I can start again, then early to bed. This happens to fit in with the way people live there anyway.
If I absolutely have to shoot when the sun is high then I try to shoot against the light (not always possible, it gets so high) because then at least you get people's faces without the deep shadows. In this situation I give up on the background. When I go back again I may consider shooting on Supra 100 because of this problem with contrast. I might also/instead shoot in black & white. Unfortunately it seems to be an irresolvable problem. People have advised me to use fill flash, but I hate it. ISO 400 is surely way too fast for outdoor shots most of the time - you'll be stuck with very small apertures, or you'll have to use ND filters, which will darken your viewfinder considerably. - --- Bob Thanks, Bob. All very good advice. I'm out and about during the day doing fieldwork (this is work, not a holiday, but very interesting work), so when there is a good shot I have to take it regardless of the light. Supra 100 is a possibility. With ISO 400, high shutter speeds have eliminated the small aperture problem. Joe - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
