Metering in poor light with dark clothing

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Duncan.F

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Duncan
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Hi,
Did a gig the other night [and this follows from another issue on composing close up with a 50mm 1.4] and was experimenting with my 24-70L. I would normally use the 1.4L and leave on AV at 1.4. However the vast majority of my shots are in portrait mode using the top focus AF point for focussing on the face.
The problem is that using spot or centre weighted metering tends to end up around the middle of the subject, last night they were all wearing dark or black shirts. I ended up with too many overexposed highlights, faces, bare arms and guitars. Unfortunately I didn't pay much attention to this until much later as I was experimenting with another lens.
Having seen some in PP I wondered what is the best way to avoid that in the future? Should I adjust exposure levels or use focus lock?
On the lens issue I rapidly gave up on the 24-70 as the poor and variable lighting [it was at a pub] led to a number of low shutter speed shots, it was also slow to focus.
I would appreciate your thoughts on the metering!

Cheers,

Dunc
 
Not really able to help here much, but over the years I have just learned how my cameras expose and what exposure compensation is required for the scene/subject that I am wishing to record. It is just something that I do automatically as I am shooting ...

I guess it stems from having to do exposures manually for many years, and then when the luxury of a built-in light meter and aperture priority came along I just adjusted my method to still get the exposure "right." For the stuff I shoot, aperture priority works for me and I adjust the exposure compensation while I am shooting, even in the middle of a burst if required.

The only problem I have to contend with (and it appears that you have the same problem,) is if the scene/subject has an exposure range outside of that of your camera - you have to decide which is the more important, the highlights or the shadows?
 
i agree..

The camera is trying to average out the scene.. if its predominately dark then it'll try to bring it all into a good range, its about HOW the camera works, the 18% grey that it thinks the world is..

If there is a lot of dark in an image then you will need to dial in MINUS compensation.. if it is mostly white then you will have to use PLUS compensation, because it will try to makethe mostly white picture grey..

Not the greatest explanation in the world but its on the right lines...
 
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the info, here is an example of the problem. There were worse, the guitar almost white!

_MG_7660052.jpg


Having said all that the light was really terrible but you have to work with what you have got!!

Dunc
 
That's a dynamic range and lighting problem. Harsh stage lights and weird colours.

The exposure overall doesn't look too massively out - his jeans for example are spot on. Adjusting it either way will either make the faces too dark, or bleach the guitar and blow her shoulder.

Gig photography is pretty hit and miss. The only thing you can do is try and put a bit of flash in there, which would make it much better in exposure terms but might not look right and may not be possible anyway.

If you can use flash, then a gentle bit of fill might help enormously and not spoil the atmosphere too much.
 
Your camera will always struggle with a scene like that. The highlights are more important than the shadows in that image, but with lighting like that if you try to expose to keep the highlights you will be left with nothing much else. Sometimes you have to accept that there will be blown areas in an image to get the majority of the subject exposed adequately. After all, any pic is better than no pic at all.
 
Ok guys, maybe not too bad then! Here are my two favs, the guitarist is a little soft but it was at 1/20th for some reason!

_MG_7875266_edited-1.jpg
_MG_7845236_edited-1.jpg


Cheers,

Dunc
 
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