The 12 minute exposure (for the camera) is easy to work out -- just spot-meter the brightest part and increase by 5 stops. The 12 minute exposure for my hands was a different story though ...
... I thought before I left "should I take some gloves" ... "nah - she'll be right". (haven't mentioned until now that I actually tried a 45 minute exposure at 100 ISO next, but I'd turned on noise-reduction and for some reason it killed the shot (not sure why) ... just 45 minutes of even colder hands!
When I get $1800 for the flight (there goes my fund for a new lens)... and however much money it will cost to get from Auckland to Nelson????(kids don't need to eat 3 meals a day... 2....even 1 is fine!) I could do the double decker bus! Gesh.... this sounds like fun... the 20+ hour flight does not However!
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Hi Kori,
2 + 3 = 5
If you spot-meter anything, the meter will return an exposure recommendation that will expose whatever it is that you spot-metered as a mid-tone - but - Because I'm spot-metering the brightest part of the sky I want it to be closer to a highlight than a mid-tone - so if the meter is saying, say, "shoot for 30 seconds" (for a mid-tone) and I want to increase it by two stops to make it a highlight then I need to expose for 2 minutes to let the light in for longer. In theory the camera can handle a 3 stop increase but (a) the sensor can get a bit non-linear in the last stop, (b) 2 stops is safer (the last thing you want is blown highlights after waiting 12 minutes -- or 45 minutes!), and (c) there's plenty of safety margin in the RAW file (noisy shadows aren't an issue since it's a silhouette shot)
The other 3 stops are simply to allow for a 3-Stop Reverse GND that's attached (the light meter doesn't know I'd cutting the light down by 3 stops) (actually it does 'cause I've got a good light meter and I just tell it to make the full 5-stop adjustment for me - saves having to think![]()