I hate when people say 'Manual" exposure.....you can be in Manual Mode and choose Aperture and SS and ISO and etc... but you still need to apply either 1. Spot Metering 2. Center Weighted or 3. Matrix Metering
Avi B wrote:
Say what?? I use the spot meter in lieu of a hand held meter... Although the two aren't the same really. As a hand-held meter can meter ambient for you whereas the spot meter works off the reflectance of the object that you point it at. This is my understanding.
yes your right....but some light meters have a spot meter built in the Sekonic L-538 is one of them....
I use a hand held Sekonic meter mostly for incident readings. It cannot be any simpler than that. Just turn around so that the light that is falling on the subject is falling on the meter. Shoot at that reading. Check your rear screen to see if the pic is the way you like it. Open up a little or close the aperture for the next shot. Good to go for the shoot if the sun is not moving in and out of the clouds and the subject is in the same direction as when you started. Re-meter as conditions or poses change.
Hand held spot metering works best for me. Just point it at a face and set your camera accordingly. I don't want the camera interpreting it for me.
williamkazak wrote:
I use a hand held Sekonic meter mostly for incident readings. It cannot be any simpler than that. Just turn around so that the light that is falling on the subject is falling on the meter. Shoot at that reading. Check your rear screen to see if the pic is the way you like it. Open up a little or close the aperture for the next shot. Good to go for the shoot if the sun is not moving in and out of the clouds and the subject is in the same direction as when you started. Re-meter as conditions or poses change.
Hand held spot metering works best for me. Just point it at a face and set your camera accordingly. I don't want the camera interpreting it for me....Show more →
well, an incident meter works fine for some things, but a spot meter can really help determine brightness range of a scene, allowing you to determine whether you lose your shadow or highlights, or both. Megavision has a really good section on their website about using the zone system for digital capture, a quick google search should turn it up.
Absolutely right ERIE...As you pointed out, another important use of Spot Meter is to find out the "Dynamic range" of the scene. I set the spot meter and get the exposure value on the Brightest and Darkest part of the scene and calculate the Stop difference which is Dynamic range of the scene. Then I take the decison on the exposure setting before I click...If the Dynamic range is high, I bracket and shoot...Forgot to tell you shoot RAW. Otherwise it will be difficult to extract the details during PP.
clickmepp wrote:
..Forgot to tell you shoot RAW. Otherwise it will be difficult to extract the details during PP.
Exactly why I still shoot with a Kodak SLR/N, about the highest dynamic range of any camera I used yet when shooting RAW. The only downside is ISO 100 base speed, (or down to 6 with long exposures and absolutely gorgeous). Finicky, but well worth it if you don't need low light or fast capture rates.
Andre Labonte wrote:
Get this book: "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson.
That book is a joke. Like what 2 pages are dedicated to spot metering ? no way Its more about Peterson bragging about photo X and how much money it made him.
Personally I couldn't the real techical details about the Spot Metering from "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson.
Nature Photography Field Guide - John Shaw is the best book which spoon feeds the micro level details...I would say it is best place to learn the exposure...
The easiest way for me on canons to use spot metering on the go, that is when I have time is to use AV( Aperture Priority) with exposure lock button *. I will give you an example of a method that always works try it around the house. Set your camera to third stop increments in custom functions. Set it to +1 2/3rd compensation and point at anything white lock exposure recompose to your liking, and shoot. Similarly, find something dark or black and do - 1 2/3rd it will exhibit similar behavior. I gave up trying to find midtones in every scene. Generally this method works for almost everything. As probably mentioned before, photoshop cafe perfect exposure is pretty good at introducing how to spot meter using the zone system.
Avi B wrote:
Say what?? I use the spot meter in lieu of a hand held meter... Although the two aren't the same really. As a hand-held meter can meter ambient for you whereas the spot meter works off the reflectance of the object that you point it at. This is my understanding.
Well hand held meters come in ambient, reflective and ambient/reflective. The biggest difference between a hand held meter and your camera is the hand held meter spot size ( degrees ) stays constant while the incamera spot sized ( degrees ) varies with the type of lens you are using. Wide angle lenses ( 24mm and less ) make spot almost useless while telephotos make the spot very narrow.
papageno wrote:
Bracket. It's old school, but quick and simple (and on digital it doesn't add to your costs!). Most cameras can be set to do this for you.
I'd start with a five stop bracket (probably overkill) to get a feel for what a one stop difference actually means.
Refine to suit.
Bracket is OK if you subject will wait for you, but if it is moving, then bracketing is useless. Get it right without guessing is the best way to go.
clickmepp wrote:
Personally I couldn't the real techical details about the Spot Metering from "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson.
Nature Photography Field Guide - John Shaw is the best book which spoon feeds the micro level details...I would say it is best place to learn the exposure...
Perfect exposure by is the best book on spot metering, in fact he goes through all the different metering options and where he uses what and why. Excellent and totally focused on metering.
is the best book on spot metering, in fact he goes through all the different metering options and where he uses what and why. Excellent and totally focused on metering.