Exposure

Hi All

Can someone please give me some advice on how to get a good exposure readings in the wild.
Up to now I have been taking a shot or two and looking at the histrogram and changing my settings to suit.
Bumped into this guy tuesday and he sugested i should get a spotmeter this will make my life easier.
O.K. I am still on my uphill learning curve, I am using a canon 1Ds1
How do you guys do it.

Tony

West Sussex

Hi Tony

I use evaluative metering mode most of the time, especially for wildlife. I will adjust the exposure compensation if needed.

My Canon cameras are always set to -1/3rd compensation as the canon metering seems to favour the shadows at the expense of blown highlights. When there are extremes of black and white in a shot (e.g. Puffin, moorhen, etc) I usually use -2/3rd or -1 stop compensation to stop the whites blowing. Photographing something very neutral or very white might need + compensation, but this is not so common.

For most situations, eval metering - 1/3rd compensation works fine, the Canon metering is generally reliable and accurate.

Manual, spot, centre weighted metering are all fine if you have the time to meter a mid-tone area accurately and then set the camera up. If you are in one spot for a period of time, and the light is not changing too much then manual metering might be useful.

cheers

Sean

Hi Sean

Thankyou for the advice, I think you have answered another question I had
First reasonable day comes I am going out to try this

Thanks

Tony

Your 1ds has a spot meter built in if you want to use it

i think definitely using evaluative metering is a lot more of a sure way to get regular results than spot metering, especially of you are taking images of something moving, as trying to keep the 'spot' on a mid tone and remembering to lock it whilst you focus and move with the subject is somewhat tricky, and a bit too hit and miss.

m

I guess you are using auto-exposure modes now but this is resulting in some shots being too dark, others being over exposed.

Some people can get consistently good exposure results using ETTL auto exposure modes and dialling in appropriate compensation to match the combination of subject and background tonality, together with the size of the subject in the frame and the angle of lighting, but it is not as simple as set the camera for -1/3. Try this - set the camera on a tripod to take a shot in landscape format using an ETTL auto-exposure mode. Now rotate the camera on the tripod to portrait format and look at the exposure scale - same scene, same lighting, but different exposure value indicated in the view finder!

There is no one method of exposure evaluation that is going to give you a "correct" exposure value in all circumstances, so there is no substitute to learning how and when to apply the different methods. However, a good starting point for determining the most appropriate exposure value is to use a handheld incident meter with the camera in manual exposure mode. Now you are responsible for making the exposure decisions, not the computer algorithms in the camera. Afterall, isn't this why you bought a DSLR rather than a P&S camera, to get greater control over your image-making.


Hope this helps.

Hi Guys
Thanks for your replies
You have given me a lot to think about and try

Thanks again
Tony