metering mode?

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by astjitters

To add onto my question, do you all always use spot/center-weighted when you are photographing moving children/families that may not be centered in the frame? this seems like it would be difficult?

I try to keep the subject in the middle of the frame, especially with things that move quickly. If im taking portraits of subjects that stay still I use the press/hold method. Or I used to.

When youre shooting in manual, you set the exposure you want: this may not be ideal for moving targets, but with most portraits I do I can usually get away with finding the exposure I want and going with it, adjusting as I go.

[hibou]

Originally Posted by astjitters

candleman -

thanks for your reply. i referred to my manual on the AE lock ,which what I'm assuming is what you're talking about. by reading the three steps they list there, seems to be a simple concept: focus the subjectt with the exposure reading displayed. press my (*) button (i have a canon), which should lock the auto exposure setting. then i can recompose and take the picture. to maintain the AE lock when taking more shots, it says that i need to hold down the (*) button & press the shutter button to shoot (I'll have to try this.)

but the confusing part then would be the table they list at the bottom of that page titled "AE lock effects" which shows the metering mode and the AF point selection method, and specifies where the AE lock is. SO, when in spot metering, according to the table, the AE lock is applied at the ceter AF point. WHHHHAT? This confuses things as i had thought from reading the above that I could fix this?

Thoughts on this? Sorry for such a newbie question ... Thanks for the help

If I understand your problem correctly, the solution is that you point the center focus at the thing you are spot metering, lock it, and then recompose the shot. You don't have to center focus a shot just because you are using spot meter.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by hibou

If I understand your problem correctly, the solution is that you point the center focus at the thing you are spot metering, lock it, and then recompose the shot. You don't have to center focus a shot just because you are using spot meter.

exactly

1. get exposure right with centre of frame on face
2.recompose
3.select focus point & focus
4. *snap*