Old Bench and Leaf

I ran some Tri-X through my Crown Graphic on a sunny day. Most of my subjects were in open shade. I rated the film at ASA 200 and reduced development time by about a third.
I found a middle tone in each subject and used that reading to determine exposure. I used a Pentax Spotmeter to read light levels.

In the above photo, I took my reading off the bench boards.




Bench and Birch

I shot this later in the day. The sun had found its way through some trees to the right.  I took a reading off a shaded area on the pine tree trunk to the left of the five birch trees. 
The brightness range of this scene really tested the film/developer combination.
The shadows in the deep woods barely moved the Spotmeter needle and the highlights on the birches and an area to the right of the bench were nearly five zones above the middle.



 White Flox

These White Flox grow at the edge of the woods behind our house. When the sun hits them they appear to glow when viewed against the shadowed woods behind them.
 I wanted to see if I could approximate that glow in a photograph. I opened the Ektar way and overexposed the scene by about two stops.

The human eye is so much better than any photographic equipment/processing combination.  When I look at the flox in real life, I can see the delicate details inside each flowerette. The glow doesn't mask them as it does in the above photograph.




Knotweed

Knotweed blooms in late summer and bees love them. The blossoms hum with activity.

Here the subject was in full sun but shade was abundant within the plant. I read off a leaf in the shade.  I think the Tri-X held up well despite a very wide brightness range.