My uncle the wedding photographer told me to always underexpose slide film by a third stop. Turned out he was living in the 80s.

I started shooting slide film last year and that was the first advice I got. So for like 6 months I was metering everything at -0.3 EV and wondering why all my shadows were black holes. Then I met a guy at a camera swap in Albany who asked why I was shooting Velvia like it was Kodachrome. He told me modern slide film handles highlights way better and to just meter normally or even overexpose a tiny bit. Tried it on a roll of Ektachrome at a fall foliage hike near Lake George. Night and day difference. Now I've got a folder of underexposed mountains I'm bummed about. Anyone else get passed down advice that was outdated?

2 comments

2 Comments

riverf344d ago

Hahaha, 'living in the 80s' is perfect. That advice is like telling someone to warm up their car for ten minutes before driving it. I had a buddy who swore by underexposing everything by half a stop because his dad shot newsprint back in the day. Took him three rolls of slide film at a beach wedding to realize his 'fat negatives' were just dark and grainy. Now he just meters for the shadows and prays the highlights aren't blown. Modern film is way more forgiving than old Kodachrome was, but people still act like they're shooting slides for National Geographic in 1987.

brian_murray4d ago

Three rolls of slide film at a beach wedding before he figured it out? That hurts to even think about. I've seen guys bring a brick of Portra to a family reunion and come back with nothing but mush because they were trying to nail some old-school zone system on a sunny afternoon. You can't just carry around habits from when film had the latitude of a garden hose and expect it to work the same way.