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10/21/2003 12:22:14 PM · #1 |
What metering method do you prefer and why?
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10/21/2003 12:31:52 PM · #2 |
Evaluative matrix when I'm being lazy and using auto modes
Partial/ spot when I'm paying attention
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10/21/2003 12:49:05 PM · #3 |
I have recently been experimenting with spot metering and I am still learning how and when to use it. On nearly all of the last 800 pictures I took, all last week while on vacation, I used spot metering. Not all of the pictures turned out.
I found that if the scene contains all sunlight, then spot metering on a highlight works pretty well. In this case, you can pull detail out of the darker areas if needed. I need to experiment more with spot metering in an all shade scene.
If the scene has mixed sunlight and shade or shadows, then spot metering on the highlights darkens the shadows too much to get detail out of the darker areas. In mixed sun and shade, spot metering or center weighted metering on an intermediate level of reflected light gives the best results, even though the brightest areas might be blown out some and the darkest areas might be a bit dark.
Exposure is a difficult task when a scene contains bright sunlight and dark shadows, the digital camera won't cover that range of light.
If you spot meter on your hand or a gray card you can get pretty good results. I am still experimenting with this and I am still learning.
This is an important subject because getting the correct exposure is the name of the game.
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10/21/2003 01:21:51 PM · #4 |
I use the spot mode to expose the most significant part of the scene.
Basically I pick something that I want to be exposed correctly, and spot meter on that. From that reading, I then adjust up and down for how far away I want that thing I metered off to be from a mid tone in the final exposure.
+2.5 if I want it whited out
+2 stops for lighter/ brightest thing with detail,
+1 stop if I want it light,
no change if I want it as a mid tone,
-1 if I want it darker than a mid tone,
-2 if I want it the darkest thing in the scene,
-2.5 if I want it black
This way I place the tone of the thing I care about and let everything else fall from there. Works really well and is really simple. The thing that requires some practice is what is a mid tone or what is brighter and darker. E.g., the palm of your hand is about 1 stop brighter than a mid tone.
To do these compensations up and down from the metered reading, I either use manual mode, or exposure compensation and the exposure lock features on my camera.
I also work in 1/2 stop values around the table above, for a bit finer control.
Since I started looking at it this way, exposure become trivially easy to get dead on. Previously it was hit and miss and needed a lot of post processing.
Message edited by author 2003-10-21 13:22:34.
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10/21/2003 08:13:14 PM · #5 |
I don't have a separate exposure-lock, outside of during focusing/shooting. Does the exposure compensation setting affect the metering, or is it applied afterwards to whatever value the meter reads? That is, can I set the EC value first (based on an estimate from your table) and then meter the desired spot, or does the reading need to be taken before the EC is applied?
I know it may be different for different cameras, but is there a general rule? I'm just starting to use EC at all. |
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10/21/2003 08:17:05 PM · #6 |
I spot meter almost exclusively now.
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10/22/2003 04:04:17 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Since I started looking at it this way, exposure become trivially easy to get dead on. Previously it was hit and miss and needed a lot of post processing. |
yeah, the more images I take, the less i want to post edit. Hence my desire to learn spot metering. Will give it a bash, but seems pretty complicated.
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10/22/2003 10:49:34 AM · #8 |
Jon - try it like this.
Look at the scene. Work out which part of the scene you care about being exposed correctly - you only get one.
Now meter on that part of the scene using spot metering - you'll get an exposure reading.
Now all you have to do is adjust the exposure, depending on how you want the thing you metered on to appear.
By default, the meter gives you the value to make that region a mid tone. If you want it lighter, you have to expose more if you want it darker, you have to expose less.
With that, you've got your exposure - shoot the scene and the thing you picked will be exposed correctly - everything else just falls from there.
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10/22/2003 11:06:05 AM · #9 |
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10/22/2003 11:24:40 AM · #10 |
I have found two very good and simple to understand books on spot metering that also includes chapters on applying spot metering to digital photography. They are a bit dated, but the explanations are very clear.
1) The Confused Photographer's Guide to On-Camera Spotmetering
2) The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the
Simplified Zone System
both are by: Bahman Farzad
They can be got at Amazon and IMO are well worth the investment. Exposure is now clear to me!
In addition, for all you Canon DSLR owners, or soon to be owners...there is a feature called "highlight alert" which during playback mode will show the blownout highlights in an image that have no detail or discernable information. You can then go back and reshoot the image with different exposure values until you get the proper exposure you like. I think this is why Canon has not included a true on-camera spot meter on their DSLR's. They only supply a partial meter (giving a 9.5% coverage). Personally, this is one factor that has delayed my purchase of the D300.
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10/22/2003 11:25:39 AM · #11 |
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10/22/2003 11:53:23 AM · #12 |
There might be some assistance here as well:
//webpages.charter.net/setzler/exposure.pdf
This may become a tutorial here on DPC soon :)
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10/22/2003 12:57:59 PM · #13 |
Doggone good tut, John! Thanks!
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10/24/2003 03:43:16 PM · #14 |
Here is essentially a more detailed version of the approach I described:
//www.normankoren.com/zonesystem.html |
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10/24/2003 05:24:16 PM · #15 |
| what is the spot metering button on the d60? i lost the manual |
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10/24/2003 05:34:07 PM · #16 |
you can download the manual from www.canoneos.com
But the D60 doesn't have a spot mode. The closest is the partial metering mode (about 9 degree coverage, compared to a 1 degree spot meter)
Of the three metering modes,
[ (*) ] Matrix/ Evaluative
[ ( ) ] Partial
[ ] Center weighted.
At least I think that's what they are - they never make any logical sense as pictograms. |
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