Metering and where-to-point

[fletch]

Originally Posted by mrpiano

I'm basically just trying to wrap my head around when to use the different types of metering and what the impact will be of each decision. Above all else, I was also opening the floor on the impacts of metering off a white object instead of something that the camera would see as "neutral" gray under the same lighting conditions...

I agree that the metering mode options on a DSLR are quite confusing and it can be very beneficial to understand the workings of them. That is why I was so critical of Ken's one size fits all approach as I don't think its very useful.

Your are correct in your understanding of spot meeting of a white object vs a grey one and the effect that has on your camera. I tend to use spot metering when I want the exposure 'spot on' at a specific part of an image such as a face when the light in the rest of the scene is confusing the camera. In this instance I would meter of the point in the photo I want right rather than a reference point, then I don't need to worry about the relative brightness refernce point in relation to the rest of the scene. If the point of interest is genuinely a bright spot and I want it to appear so I may use expsoure compensation just as you would in a snow scene.

For wider scenes such as landscapes or group shots I will simply use evaluative meeting to get a best guess for the whole scene and use a combination of test shots and expsoure compensation (or manual mode) to get the expsoure spot on. Much easier IMO than worrying about where to meter and how this relates to the rest of the scene.

Sounds like you already have a good understanding of exposure to me and the best way to learn is to get out there and shoot rather than listening to me prattling on!

[mrpiano]

Hey Fletch,

Yep, I use evaluative on all-things landscape and to your point, sometimes it becomes a dart throwing session in terms of finding the right combinations. I try to salvage highlights where possible and will usually settle for crushed blacks instead of blown highlights...but sometimes the scene just goes beyond what the sensor can deal with, and that's when I start dialing up and down the exposure compensation dial and checking that histogram...

Right now, I'm pretty pumped that I can shoot a bunch of outdoor shots and largely keep the histogram within an acceptable range...for me, learning to interpret the RGB histogram has easily had the greatest impact on my shots in terms of correct exposure, and I have it turned on all the time now...I don't feel like I can shoot without it. When shooting outside it gives me the best feedback on what I need to adjust, and that's made for a lot better results when I crack open the shots in Apple Aperture...

Thanks for the feedback.

GG