Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

Michelle (KK) · **Exposure -** 10-23-2007, 02:17 PM

I have always been confused by different ways that metering is done. So I thought with all the other wonderful help that has been here I would ask here.

How do you meter? Which metering technique do you prefer to use? Is one way better than another?

TIA!!!!

larrys · 10-23-2007, 04:36 PM

There is a great book called Exposures that you can probably do a search on in this forum to get the real name and author. It is so good on the basics and gives some great rules of thumb near the end - must read for anyone new to photography.

For metering you should be in Manual Mode. It helps if you have an idea of where you want to start from - what aperture do I want or what shutter speed do I need. If you have an idea on one of those then set that in the manual mode while looking through the viewfinder. Once that is set then while still looking thru the viewfinder you will see a chart looking thing with a -2, -1, 0, +1 and +2 in it. If you are trying to balance the meter at 0 then you need to see which side of the 0 the little dots are on and toggle the dial until they line up at 0. Once at 0 then you are balanced and can take the shot.

That is a pretty lame explaination but it's one of those things that is easy to see but hard to simply explain. If you have your camera manual then they should have pictures on how to balance the meter. Hope that was what you were asking.

larrys · 10-23-2007, 04:39 PM

Also for anyone new to photography many instructors want you to take only on Manual for the first few months to really learn how your camera operates. I switch between all of them depending on what I am trying to accomplish.

Dobick · 10-23-2007, 05:45 PM

are you referring to incident or reflective metering?

Or are you asking about the different ways that the camera can meter a scene, such as spot, evaluative, center weighted, etc.

One point to keep in mind about all metering -- it is based off of 18% grey. in simple terms, what this means is if you have a single light, and you point it at a white wall, the meter will kick back a reading that makes the wall 18% grey, effectively underexposing everything. If you meter the light from a black wall, it will kick back a reading that makes the wall 18% grey, causing everything to be over exposed. That is reflective metering, (also what the camera works from) Incident metering measures the intensity of the light. and you point it at the source of the light (you can't do this with a camera's meter)

Of the three types of reflective metering I mentioned:

spot = a small spot usually tied to the focus point, and only measures the reflection of light at that point.

Evaluative (I think can vary from camera system to system) = measures the reflection of light from several points and comes up with an average for the scene

Center Weighted = same as evaluative, except using the small circle in the center of the frame.

I hope this answers some of the questions, but more specific guidance can be found in most camera manuals as well.

As for me, My camera does not have a spot meter (20d) so I usually try to stick with the center weighted, or just pre-meter the scene with a hand held, and not worry about what the in camera meter kicks back.

Michelle (KK) · 10-24-2007, 05:10 PM

See I don't exactly know what I mean, just off of hearing people comment to others. IK what the meter is. I do shoot on Manual. I guess Kent's is more the direction I was asking. Let's see if I can get out what's in my head *L* So I'm looking through my camera, what am I metering off of. Say for instance my son's soccer team photos tomorrow...group and individual. They have white shirts. What do I meter off of. Do I meter off the face? Do I meter off the white shirt? Do you meter from where you are positioned to actually take the picture? Do you pull in close to your subject and meter off their face from that point or as said above the shirt? Does that help anymore at what I'm after?

Some good white examples of not understanding where to meter. Where should I have metered to properly expose these shots?

Is this one pretty okay or too blown out in the whites?

A lot to try to "get right" before tomorrow night I'm sure. But at least I can try to be a little more prepared. This team usually hires a pro, but they are too busy with weddings right now. So I'm very intimidated right now to even be doing this. So appreciate the help!!!

Dobick · 10-24-2007, 05:24 PM

one quick trick is to meter off of the back of your hand (that is if the light nearby at armslength is the same as the light on the person)

In the examples posted above, you would want to meter on the faces, or you could have the person (or a stand-in) hold a grey card to meter off of at the start of the session.

I am not sure on the d50 what exposure modes that you you have, but if you have a spot metering mode, then you can put the exposure spot on the object that you want to get the reading from (in this case, the face) and then figure out what the aperture and speed will need to be. If you don't have spot metering, then you will probably be best served in this case with centerweighted, in which case you would want to get in close enough to fill the whole center circle with the desired area of exposure (once again, the face)

Keep in mind, all of the above instructions, and information is provided considering only available light shots, and are not addressing adding in a flash to the mix.

barP · 11-01-2007, 01:19 PM

a safe bet in tough situations like you've shown above is to meter off the white shirt. that will probably result in other parts of the image being too dark, but that's easier to fix than the shirt ending up too hot.

wp.

GregO · 11-01-2007, 01:50 PM

If you have high contrast in the frame try metering off a 18% gray card placed at the distance, focal length and lighting of your subject.

jameseba · 11-02-2007, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dobick

one quick trick is to meter off of the back of your hand (that is if the light nearby at armslength is the same as the light on the person)

I have heard about meter off of the back of the hand. It may not apply to all color of skins. If my back of hand is dark, the shot may be overexposed or blowout highlight on histogram during the day. Am I correct?

Dobick · 11-02-2007, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jameseba

I have heard about meter off of the back of the hand. It may not apply to all color of skins. If my back of hand is dark, the shot may be overexposed or blowout highlight on histogram during the day. Am I correct?

Yes I think that is correct. Never really thought about how really offensively wrong that advice is.

One thing that I have, and I love, is an 18% grey lint free lens cloth. I think it is 6x6 or 7x7 inches square, so it is large enough to fill most frames if you get close, and can also lay across the back of any hand to meter off of.

It is also a pretty nice lens cleaning cloth for the field.

carrbowl · 11-02-2007, 08:50 AM

Michelle, I was reading about this in a book, and it was saying that in high contrast situations like this one (bright white shirt) you should use an incident meter instead of your camera meter and meter what you want to render neutral. "in portraiture, the most important element of your scene is the subject's skin tones." So you would probably meter the face. The book is Master Lighting Techniques for Outdoor and Location Digital Portrait Photography by Stephen A. Dantzig. It appears to be more for the beginner to intermediate photographer..(I'm only on page 30) Some of it appears to be repetitive, but sometimes we can't be reminded of the important stuff too many times!!!

Paulo · 11-02-2007, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michelle (KK)

...
Some good white examples of not understanding where to meter. Where should I have metered to properly expose these shots?

Is this one pretty okay or too blown out in the whites?

A lot to try to "get right" before tomorrow night I'm sure. But at least I can try to be a little more prepared. This team usually hires a pro, but they are too busy with weddings right now. So I'm very intimidated right now to even be doing this. So appreciate the help!!!

Michelle-hope your team photo experience went well. Personally, I think these examples are some REALLy great shots. Especially with a white shirt and a very dark background. Colors are very vivid and the skin tones look fine (her face is a tad overexposed in image two). As mentioned earlier, gray card helps get you to a neutral starting point. But that doesn't necessarily mean you have to stay there.

Curious about how your session went. Will you be posting the team photos you took?

Michelle (KK) · 12-02-2007, 12:27 AM

Thanks everyone for the tips!!

We had computer issues so was without one for awhile...so slow to getting back around everywhere.

Renae, I've bookmarked the book. Will see if I can find it at the library first. THX!

Paulo...ty very much for the compliment. The team pictures I will not be posting. I don't have signed releases and little kids..so not going to. How it went. Let's just say it reassured why I can't take it further. The images themselves I was pretty OK with, could have done better, I suppose we always feel that way. But I am just not a good people person. I have been trying so hard to push past that cause I love this so much and want to get better and it's so hard with just my own kids as subjects. But I just froze. I'm at least offering, so that's a step...but they had professional photographer that had come in before and take pictues, so I was very nervous to follow on those footsteps and then just with myself. Maybe in like 20yrs I'll pull it all together *LOL*