I'm reading "Understanding Exposure" which is a pretty decent book. It feels really dated and some of the shots are pretty dated as well, but overall the content is pretty useful. I'd like to see more focus on Digital cameras, but generally the exposure triangle is the same for Digital and Film but the other tidbits of information are different. Overall, it is a helpful book.
But I'm left with a few questions around exposures...
1) Does the camera do any metering when shooting in manual mode?
2) What's the best type of metering?
3) I've read that you should set your exposure -1 or +1 (I can't remember which) if you're shooting digital, any truth to this?
4) What is EV? Is it a universal number or a relative number based on how far away you are from a correctly exposed shot? Or is this a value your camera produces that changes from camera to camera?
5) When they talk about correctly exposed shots, do they mean an EV of 0?
6) HDRs confuse me
When they' talking about taking multiple shots for HDRs, they talk about taking it -1/0/+1. From what I'm reading there are only 3 factors in exposure (duh, the exposure triangle), but I don't understand how I can change any of them without changing the "feel" of shot which would create problems when I merge them into a single HDR.
-- Longer exposure would create streaks
-- Larger DOF would change what was in focus vs out of focus
7) What's a DOF calculator? When would I use one? Is this a mathematical equation I use on site or something that a camera tells you.
I'm at the stage where I want to learn the underlining theory and logic behind some of these settings and techniques, so feel free to hit me with the nitty gritty.
Thanks!