B/W Shooting of sand dunes

Hi guys,

discovered this forum by accident and really glad I did !

Really need some advise from you guys here.

I'll be heading to the desert to shoot sand dunes and had absolutely no experience in this area.

I read in one of Ansel Adam's books that one of the sand dunes photo which he took described placing the sun-lit area on zone VI.He recommended shooting sand dunes with a yellow filter but do not compensate for the filter as the yellow filter lightens the sand and further compensation will result in over-exposing the sand.

Has anybody here has any advise or experiences in shooting sand dunes to share?

Really appreciate that....thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by Ah_Seng

Hi guys,

discovered this forum by accident and really glad I did !

Really need some advise from you guys here.

I'll be heading to the desert to shoot sand dunes and had absolutely no experience in this area.

I read in one of Ansel Adam's books that one of the sand dunes photo which he took described placing the sun-lit area on zone VI.He recommended shooting sand dunes with a yellow filter but do not compensate for the filter as the yellow filter lightens the sand and further compensation will result in over-exposing the sand.

Has anybody here has any advise or experiences in shooting sand dunes to share?

Really appreciate that....thanks in advance.

With my 35mm SLR camera, I just use the TTL metering with the filter on the lens and leave it at that. With my Minolta spotmeter F which has a 35.5mm filter thread, I use a step up ring so that I can attach a filter with a 49mm thread and meter through that at the normal ISO rating, I find this method far more convenient than using filter factors, which are only a guide.
I`ve never been a fan of the zone system and prefer to meter off a neutral grey card instead and to bracket half or one stop either side to ensure that I get a good negative to print from.