spot metering or exposure compensation?
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KIPAX
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eeerm exposure compensation is something you do after you have metered the scene.. exposure compensation is a reult of metering not an alternative.. you ahve to meter to know wether to compansate + or - or not at all.. you cant compensate off nothing?
Hey.
Thanks for the reply. I currently use evalutive metering then i use exposure compensation accordingly. I just wondered whether a more accurate exposure can be achieved by using spot metering on a mid gray. Will this maybe cancel out the need to compensate?
Thanks
KIPAX
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if you can get a mid grey and the lighting is constant then you should be OK
However there is no such thing as the perfect way to get exposure or we would all do it and thats the end of that. sometimes diferent things work for different situations
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I use a spotmeter where possible and dependant on the subject I meter from either the brightest part of the image in which I want to retain detail or the darkest part in which I wish to retain detail, If metered from the brightest part I give an additional 2 stops of exposure to that obtained from the meter, if metered from the darkest part I decrease the exposure by 2.5 stops from that obtained from the meter.
I rarely meter from a mid-tone (although I will if the subject matter is a mid tone) and even more rarely use matrix or evaluative metering.
To get the best exposure for any subject you should meter from the tone that is the most important in your image and understand how to capture that tone in your camera, bearing in mind that your camera will often be unable to record the complete range of tones in an scene due to the dynamic range of the light being greater than that able to be captured by the film/sensor.
I rarely meter from a mid-tone (although I will if the subject matter is a mid tone) and even more rarely use matrix or evaluative metering.
To get the best exposure for any subject you should meter from the tone that is the most important in your image and understand how to capture that tone in your camera, bearing in mind that your camera will often be unable to record the complete range of tones in an scene due to the dynamic range of the light being greater than that able to be captured by the film/sensor.
That's the zone system Ed is describing. Plenty of info on that if you google it.
I just use matrix most of the time because it's quick and usually works fine. Shooting in raw allows for any slight errors to be corrected in PP. I will use the zone system as Ed has described though if I'm shooting a landscape and it has very high contrast, like shooting into sunlight or down a dark alleyway at dusk, because I find matrix to be quite easily fooled in these conditions.
I just use matrix most of the time because it's quick and usually works fine. Shooting in raw allows for any slight errors to be corrected in PP. I will use the zone system as Ed has described though if I'm shooting a landscape and it has very high contrast, like shooting into sunlight or down a dark alleyway at dusk, because I find matrix to be quite easily fooled in these conditions.
Sorry, I should also say. In direct response to your original question, I think if you're going to spot meter then you will invariably need to also exposure compensate, not one or the other. Being able to visualise what middle grey is in a scene in order to meter off it, I think would be very difficult. It's far easier to say "I want those bright clouds to retain all their detail", dial in +2EV, and then spot off them.
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It's just a different way of doing the same thing. It doesn't matter if you spot meter it, or incident meter it, or just make a guess and use compensation - nothing more than different routes to the same destination. Use whichever method suits the subject or your prefered way of working.
There's mention of the zone system above, which strictly speaking can't be applied to digital in the same way as negative film. However, the underlying principles are embraced by the Expose To The Right (of the histogram) technique in digital.
If nothing else, ETTR makes the point that there is no such things as 'correct' exposure. Some good articles about that on LuminousLandscape, like here http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml
Edit: for the record, I tend to use evaluative (because it's so quick and is very rarely that far out) and then compensation. But my guiding light (haha) is always the histogram and blinkies - especially blinkies, brilliant invention (highlight alert). When it comes to pressing the button, I couldn't give a damn about what the meter says, it's completely irrelevant at that stage.
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