How to Shoot Pictures Like Me, Maybe Better.
Chapter: Exposure and Metering
Metering:
If
there is one most important thing in photography to learn, it is
metering. You have to know how to do it otherwise you will never get
beyond taking mediocre scenic pictures with the occasional lucky
accident. Almost any type of camera allows you the ability to manually
meter for lighting conditions except for point and shoot cameras.
That's not to say that professional photographers don't sometimes use
automatic (3D, matrix, evaluative, whatever your camera manufacturer
calls it) metering, but you have to know how to MANUALLY SPOT METER for
those many occasions where the camera's evaluative gets confused by the
lighting conditions. For this reason alone, I'd recommend that
beginning scenic photographers use strictly spot metering until they
know how to use their cameras properly. It is good practice to do so,
and by doing so there are no excuses for not being able to meter a
scene properly. Spot metering for exposures is all up to you, no
blaming the camera for mistakes. Your camera manual should
show you how to make these settings and have a visual graphic
demonstating it..
The Zone System: Legendary landscape photographer, Ansel Adams developed a method called the Zone System for evaluating exposure compensation. For our purposes with an SLR, we work in terms of F-Stops from -2.0 to 0 to +2.0. It is the bar graph in your camera LCD read out.
If you spot meter (Just a rough guide):
Bright White colors set your exposure compensation anywhere from +1.7 to 3.0.
Yellow or other bright colors other than white meter for +1.0 to 1.5.
Green such as light colored grass, typical blue sky or medium gray then meter for 0 to +0.5.
Red / Brown / darker colors -1.0 to -1.5.
Black / detail-less shadows -1.5 to 2.0.
Metering for fast-moving situations such as events or birds: For scenic landscape photography I mentioned above that spot metering is essentially to know. For photo-journalism type of subjects such as events or birds it is important to also know how to use Aperture Priority mode on your camera. The "A" setting on your top camera knobs as opposed to "M" for manual. Many times in dim-light or fast moving situations the photographer would be shooting with a wide-open aperture on their lens such as 2.8, 4.0, or 5.6 depending on what type of lens you own. That allows for faster shutter speeds but narrower depth of field (amount of focus from near to far). For aperture priority mode I would recommend using evaluative metering, and then adjusting for + or - exposure compensation when needed. Using the same exposure guidelines as the paragraph above. Keep in mind that since the camera is doing the metering for you, this would be guessing when you need to compensate for exposure. When shooting fast moving situations you rarely have time to methodically meter situations so you cover yourself by shooting many duplicates with the hopes that something will work. Plus a lot of these situations have such mixed lighting it would be very difficult to predict what exposure would work best.
Bracketing: Bracketing is when you take your basic exposure that you think works best, then take alternate exposures anywhere from +1.5 stops above to -1.5 stops below your base exposure to ensure that you get a desirable exposure somewhere in those duplicates. Kind of like insurance. Most serious photographers do some bracketing because there's nothing more disappointing to have a killer composition but have a messed up exposure when you get back home to review the photos.
But my skies are washed
out!?!?!:
Spot meter both the most important highlights in the sky and
on
the ground then determine what the difference in exposure is. If it is
2.0 or more stops difference in exposure then you might want
to
consider using a graduated neutral-density filter to hold back the sky
while you use the metered exposure from the ground highlights. If not,
then you'll have to compromise the exposure for both the sky and the
ground. (Probably the type of photos you are getting, if you're reading
this question.) Every camera or film has limits. Your eye has more
dynamic range than cameras do so that's why many photographers use GND
filters or combined exposures in Photoshop. Dynamic range is the range
of f-stops in which you see detail from black to white tones. Another
thing to consider, is sometimes the contrast is just too high for even
filters or combined exposures to handle. You have to learn how to "see"
what the camera sees. Once you have that mastered, then you
understand exposure.
Table of Contents:
The Zone System: Legendary landscape photographer, Ansel Adams developed a method called the Zone System for evaluating exposure compensation. For our purposes with an SLR, we work in terms of F-Stops from -2.0 to 0 to +2.0. It is the bar graph in your camera LCD read out.
If you spot meter (Just a rough guide):
Bright White colors set your exposure compensation anywhere from +1.7 to 3.0.
Yellow or other bright colors other than white meter for +1.0 to 1.5.
Green such as light colored grass, typical blue sky or medium gray then meter for 0 to +0.5.
Red / Brown / darker colors -1.0 to -1.5.
Black / detail-less shadows -1.5 to 2.0.
Metering for fast-moving situations such as events or birds: For scenic landscape photography I mentioned above that spot metering is essentially to know. For photo-journalism type of subjects such as events or birds it is important to also know how to use Aperture Priority mode on your camera. The "A" setting on your top camera knobs as opposed to "M" for manual. Many times in dim-light or fast moving situations the photographer would be shooting with a wide-open aperture on their lens such as 2.8, 4.0, or 5.6 depending on what type of lens you own. That allows for faster shutter speeds but narrower depth of field (amount of focus from near to far). For aperture priority mode I would recommend using evaluative metering, and then adjusting for + or - exposure compensation when needed. Using the same exposure guidelines as the paragraph above. Keep in mind that since the camera is doing the metering for you, this would be guessing when you need to compensate for exposure. When shooting fast moving situations you rarely have time to methodically meter situations so you cover yourself by shooting many duplicates with the hopes that something will work. Plus a lot of these situations have such mixed lighting it would be very difficult to predict what exposure would work best.
Bracketing: Bracketing is when you take your basic exposure that you think works best, then take alternate exposures anywhere from +1.5 stops above to -1.5 stops below your base exposure to ensure that you get a desirable exposure somewhere in those duplicates. Kind of like insurance. Most serious photographers do some bracketing because there's nothing more disappointing to have a killer composition but have a messed up exposure when you get back home to review the photos.
But my skies are washed
out!?!?!:
Spot meter both the most important highlights in the sky and
on
the ground then determine what the difference in exposure is. If it is
2.0 or more stops difference in exposure then you might want
to
consider using a graduated neutral-density filter to hold back the sky
while you use the metered exposure from the ground highlights. If not,
then you'll have to compromise the exposure for both the sky and the
ground. (Probably the type of photos you are getting, if you're reading
this question.) Every camera or film has limits. Your eye has more
dynamic range than cameras do so that's why many photographers use GND
filters or combined exposures in Photoshop. Dynamic range is the range
of f-stops in which you see detail from black to white tones. Another
thing to consider, is sometimes the contrast is just too high for even
filters or combined exposures to handle. You have to learn how to "see"
what the camera sees. Once you have that mastered, then you
understand exposure.Table of Contents:
Introduction
1. Equipment (Latest update 1/31/07)
2. Exposure and Metering (1/31/07)
3. Focusing (2/1/07)
4. Composition (2/10/07)
5. Seeing natural light and color saturation
6. Flash for landscapes and photojournalism
6. Photography Gods and Influences
7. Applying your own ideas
8. Motivation
9. The digital darkroom
10. Resources and what do you plan on doing with your images?
1. Equipment (Latest update 1/31/07)
2. Exposure and Metering (1/31/07)
3. Focusing (2/1/07)
4. Composition (2/10/07)
5. Seeing natural light and color saturation
6. Flash for landscapes and photojournalism
6. Photography Gods and Influences
7. Applying your own ideas
8. Motivation
9. The digital darkroom
10. Resources and what do you plan on doing with your images?