@bestlight · 2mo ago
The spot page says to shoot the 8pm Spectra show from Jubilee Bridge and it is right, the curve of the bridge leads straight into it. What it does not tell you is that the show swings between very dark and very bright about every fifteen seconds. I have been bracketing and throwing most of it away. Is there a single setting that survives the whole show, or is this genuinely a bracket-and-pick situation?
Expose for the bright peaks and let the dark parts go dark. If you meter the average you blow out every peak and those are the frames worth keeping. f/8, ISO 200, and let the shutter land wherever it lands — usually somewhere around 2 to 4s. The water motion at that length is a feature.
Tried it, and exposing for the peaks was the missing piece. Kept nine frames instead of two.
Worth adding that the bridge itself moves when people walk across it. If your frames are soft and you cannot work out why, it is not your tripod, it is the six people who just walked past you.