Whether you’re shooting landscapes, portraits, or action shots, the metering mode you select can make a significant difference in your final image.

Let’s dive into why this is important and how you can choose the perfect metering mode to elevate your photography skills and why when shooting manual mode spot metering should be the preferred metering mode!

Camera meters

A camera meter measures a scene or subject to determine the correct exposure by evaluating the light levels and calculating the appropriate settings for aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Here’s a step-by-step explanation:

Light Detection: The camera’s light meter detects the amount of light reflecting off the scene or subject. This involves sensors within the camera that can read the intensity of light.

Metering Modes: Depending on the selected metering mode (matrix, center-weighted, or spot metering), the camera evaluates different parts of the scene:

Matrix Metering: Measures light across the entire frame, taking multiple readings and averaging them.

Center-Weighted Metering: Prioritises the centre of the frame while still considering the surrounding areas.

Spot Metering: Focuses on a very small area (around 1-5% of the frame) for precise measurements, typically the area around the active focus point.

18% Mid Grey: In photography, 18% grey is used as a standard reference for determining exposure. It’s based on the premise that the average scene reflects 18% of the light that hits it. In photography, 18% grey is used as a standard reference for determining exposure. It’s based on the premise that the average scene reflects 18% of the light that hits it.

Exposure Calculation: Based on the light readings and the selected metering mode, the camera calculates the appropriate exposure settings to achieve a balanced image. It adjusts:

Aperture (f-stop): to control the amount of light entering the lens.

Shutter Speed: to determine how long the camera’s sensor is exposed to light.

Strictly speaking ISO does not adjust exposure it simply adjusts the sensitivity of the camera sensor to light.

Dynamics range of the scene: When using matrix or Evaluative metering, the camera takes into account the overall dynamic range of the scene, and tries to ensure that highlights aren’t overexposed and shadows aren’t underexposed. 

(The objects in this scene reflect light with tonal values around 18% grey, while the white clouds and boat have lighter or darker tones than 18% grey, midtone)

Matrix or Evaluative metering aims to retain details in both bright and dark areas, this works well if the dynamic range of the scene does not exceed the dynamic range the camera, it cannot tell which elements of your scene will turn out to be midtones, bright tones or dark tones.

In the scene with the schooner, the clouds were spot metered and the exposure was increased by 2.5 stops. This made the clouds appear white without being overexposed, and other elements, like the black hull of the schooner, fell into the right tonal ranges. Due to the high dynamic range, using matrix metering would average the whole scene, likely resulting in overexposed clouds and a deep black hull (underexposed) with no detail, .

That is why using your camera in manual mode combined with spot metering is so powerful, you can;

Assess the tonal range of your scene based on the most important shadow and highlights.

Measure the dynamic range of a scene in terms of stops.

Take a reading from your subject and set an appropriate exposure.

Easily adjust your exposure to place your subject in the correct tonal value.

Based on your chosen exposure settings, you can then meter other parts of the scene to see where they fall tonally and whether or not they will be exposed correctly.

Matrix metering and spot metering compared

Matrix metering is like using a thermometer to measure the overall temperature of a room. You get a general idea of whether the room is warm, cool, or just right, by considering the average temperature from all the different corners and surfaces within that room but you don’t know how warm or cold a specific part of the room is.

Spot metering, however, is like using an infrared thermometer to measure the temperature of a single specific spot, like a particular section of the wall or a specific object in the room. You’re focusing on a precise area to get detailed information about its temperature, regardless of the rest of the room. So if you need a corner of the room or an object to be a certain temperature, then you need to isolate that corner or object and spot measure it.

Both spot metering and matrix metering methods provide useful insights, but one gives you a broad picture, while the other offers specific details about your intended subject and how it will be exposed.

Using your camera in manual mode allows you to use your built-in light meter and spot meter to precisely measure different parts of a subject or scene just like the infrared thermometer.

When shooting manually, spot metering stands out as the best choice among the different metering modes, evaluative, centre weighted and partial metering. This mode hones in on a small area, typically around 1% or 2% of your frame, allowing for precise exposure readings of your subject. Pairing spot metering with manual mode offers you unparalleled control over exposure, ensuring that your chosen subject is perfectly captured.

Recently, I was told I should expose to the right (ETTR) when using a micro four-thirds camera (M43). The idea behind ETTR is to overexpose your image so that you open up the shadows without blowing out your highlights (wherever achievable) to give you as much data as possible to work with when processing your RAW files (ETTR is not recommended when shooting JPEG).

Below is the image where it was suggested that I use ETTR.

We see the world in colour but every object in our scene has a brightness value ranging from pure black to pure white.

If you look at the black and white image of the cat and the histogram you can see that there are no bright or white tones except for the specular highlights in the cat’s eyes.

Rather than exposing to the right (ETTR) as suggested, I based my exposure on the left side of the cat’s face and checking the histogram I could see that my shadows were not blocked out and that there were no highlights to worry about (bright areas in my scene), the histogram shows me that I have plenty of data to work with when post-processing my image.

My point is that before you press your shutter button you need to assess the tonality of the scene or subject you are shooting and make intelligent decisions on how to expose your image, relying on ETTR is not suitable for all situations and should not be overused, it is just one way of capturing a scene.

Let’s talk about metering

When you look at a scene or subject it has an overall brightness and a contrast range depending on the quality of light and the reflective properties of the elements within your scene.

There are basically two methods for taking light (metering) readings, incident light metering or reflective light metering.

Essential point: If you photograph a black vase and a white vase together under the same lighting conditions then they should both need the same exposure!

• If you use an incident light meter and measure the light falling on the two vases you will get an exposure based on the intensity of the light illuminating your subject, and the exposure will be correct for both the black and white vases.
• If you take a reflected light reading from the black vase it will come out lighter in your final image (not black more grey) and the white vase will be overexposed! if you take a reflected light reading from the white vase it will come out darker (not white more grey) in the final image and the black vase will be underexpsoed, why? Because reflected light meters measure the intensity of the light rebounding from the subject and the intensity of this light varies depending on the reflective properties of your subject, taking a light reading from the white vase or the black vase means that your exposure will render the vases as a mid-tone (grey) and your vases will not look as they should.

Why does this happen? All light meters whether an incident or reflective light meter render your subject as a mid-tone or middle grey. Understanding the concept of mid-tone or middle grey is important in obtaining the correct exposure for your subject. It is commonly referred to as 18% grey or zone V.

All scenes or subjects are generally made up of a number of light or dark tones. Compare the two images below. Because we see the world in colour, it is not always to imagine what a scene looks like in various shades from black to white. But this is exactly what we need to do when analysing a subject or scene.

The concept of the zone system helps us out here. Compare the black and white image and the grey-scale values opposite, you can see that our image is made up of a number of values from the greyscale, ranging from zone 2/3 all the way to zone 8/9.

When we photograph a subject or scene we want to be sure that our tones fall into the right place to render our subject correctly. Every time we use our camera meter or a handheld reflected light meter to meter a scene or subject it is always rendered as a midtone, it is up to us as photographers to decide whether the resulting exposure is correct for our subject.

If our subject is a mid-tone (middle grey/zone V) then it will be exposed correctly, if it is not, then we have to ask ourselves how much lighter or darker than the mid-tone is our subject and bias our exposure accordingly.

The zone system was developed for film use, it can still help digital photographers ensure that they get the correct exposure for their subject, each zone is equal to 1 stop. In the example of the white and black vase, if we take a reflected light reading from the white vase we know that it is not a mid-tone, its much brighter than that, which means we would have to apply at least two stops of exposure compensation to render it white (open up two stops). The opposite is true if we meter from the black vase, we need to stop down two stops for it to render correctly.

You don’t need to remember the zone system or learn too much about it, you just have to realise that if your subject is not a mid-tone you will need to apply some exposure compensation.

I simply ask myself when shooting, is my main subject bright, brighter or brightest? Or if its a dark subject, is it dark, darker or darkest and then set my exposure accordingly

Applying the principles above to your photography

To use the above you would need to work with a spot meter and use your camera in manual mode. I prefer using a handheld meter but you can use your camera’s spot meter if you have one. The key thing about working this way is that you are controlling how light or dark your main subject is by placing your subject in the appropriate zone. Setting your exposure based on the brightness of your main subject also influences how bright or dark other objects in your scene render.

More on metering

We have said that there are two main types of metering, incident and reflective.

Hand-held meters

Incident light metering

Incident light meters read the intensity of light falling on your subject, in other words, they ignore the reflective properties of your subject, providing very accurate exposures. All of the issues about how light or dark a subject is go away when using incident light metering. An incident light reading is the most accurate way to meter your subject.

Check out light meters at Wex Photo

Spot meters

Spot meters are expensive and are very precise, they allow you to take single or multiple spot readings, average out your readings and normally allow you to apply exposure compensation too. They are ideal for determining the overall contrast of your scene and for placing your subject in the appropriate zone.

Camera meters reflected light metering

Most modern digital cameras have three metering modes

• Matrix or Evaluative metering.
• Centre-weighted metering.
• Spot-metering.

Let’s explore each of these in turn,

Matrix/Evaluative metering

Matrix/Evaluative metering simply means that your camera is taking multiple readings at the same time from the different parts of your scene or subject, measuring the brightness of the scene and then averaging out the readings to give you an exposure value. It is considered to be a fairly accurate way to meter a scene but if your scene or subject is made up of mostly light or dark tones, in other words, there is not a range of tones in your scene from black to white, evaluative metering may not give you the correct exposure. It is not suitable for applying the concepts of the zone system.

Centre-weighted metering

Simply measures whatever is in the centre of your viewfinder, giving less priority to the edges of your scene. Again, it is not suitable for measuring and placing your subject in the correct zone.

Spot-metering

Camera spot meters are not as precise as handheld spot meters but can still be used to make accurate exposures. When I do not have my handheld meter with me I tend to use my camera’s spot meter and switch to manual mode.

Spot metering and Manual mode.

Most cameras have an internal light meter. However, you cannot access it unless you switch to manual mode. It will look something like the image below.

By shooting in manual mode and using spot metering you can begin to measure the different parts of your scene and see where your subject falls in terms of tonality,

Remember, light meters are calibrated to provide you with a midtone reading of your subject, which means that they always return an exposure value equivalent to 18% grey (zone 5 midtone)!

Taking a spot reading using your camera spot meter

When you set your camera to manual mode and point your spot meter at your subject you will get a meter reading, if you change the aperture and shutter speed until you zero out your meter (as above) you will have set your exposure to provide a midtone reading or an average reading. If your subject is a midtone or close to midetone the exposure for your subject will be correct. If your subject is not a midetone then you need to adjust your exposure to match your subject.

Changing exposure to match your subject

subjects darker or lighter than a midtone

For subjects that are darker than a midtone we need to reduce exposure (stop down) and for subjects that are brighter, we need to increase exposure (open up).

I simply ask myself, how much brighter or darker is my subject than a midtone and then adjust my exposure accordingly.

• Zone 2 Darkest – just a hint of detail, almost pure black (hardly any details)
• Zone 3 Darker – deepest shadows with some detail, dark fur (think very darkest colours)
• Zone 4 Dark – shadows (think darker colours)
• Zone 5 Midtone – very few subjects fall here but many subjects will be more or less a midtone. (primary / average colours)
• Zone 6 Bright – lighter subjects (think pastel colours)
• Zone 7 Brighter – clouds, white fur
• Zone 8 Brightest – bright snow in sunlight, almost pure white

Rather than zeroing out your meter reading, you need to decide how much lighter or darken your subject needs to be and then adjust your exposure until your meter reading shows that you are under or over-exposed by the correct number of stops.

Learning to assess the dynamic range of a scene and base your exposure on the brightness of your subject will provide you with accurately exposed images and you will spend less time post processing your files.

Whilst most people use their camera’s inbuilt meter there is still a strong case for having a handheld light meter.

Handheld light meters are arguably more precise than our camera’s exposure meter and the more sophisticated meters provide us with more information from which to base our exposure.

There are two handheld light meters that I recommend looking at that have spot metering capabilities built into them. They are

• The Gossen starlite 2
• The Sekonic L858D

Both of these meters are very sophisticated and allow us to take both incident and reflected light readings, as well as measuring flash and providing the all-important spot metering capabilities.

When using a spot meter we are interested in

• Midtones
• Highlights
• Shadows
• Scene contrast
• The dynamic range of our camera’s sensor
• Settings the optimum exposure for our scene or subject

When taking spot meter reading we will do one or more of the following

• Base our exposure on a midtone reading and set our exposure accordingly (camera or handheld light meter).
• Take a highlight reading and make a +1, +2 or a + 3 stop adjustment to our exposure (camera or handheld light meter).
• Take a shadow reading and make a -1, -2 or a -3 stop exposure adjustment (camera or handheld light meter).
• Take a reading from our most important highlight and shadow area and average out the two exposures ( best done with a handheld light meter).
• Take multiple spot readings and average them out (best done with a handheld light meter)

Remember, all subjects have different reflective qualities

Reflected light metering measures the light reflecting from your subject and depending on how dark or light your subject, provides you with reading.

Because of these different reflective qualities and to get the optimum exposure for our subject or scene, we need to evaluate the scene and adjust our exposure accordingly.

When shooting with digital you need to be very accurate with your light readings. Unlike film, which has a wider latitude when it comes to your exposure, digital (especially JPEGs) requires you to be spot on with your readings.

Some examples

In time you will learn to judge how light or dark a subject is and set your exposure accordingly.

The next example uses a number of spot readings averaged out to give the correct exposure. The readings were taken with a Sekonic L758 light meter in spot meter mode and then average them out.

This was a high contrast scene and difficult to expose for. Handheld light meters are invaluable for scenes like this.

In our final example, I have metered from my most important highlight and shadow areas. The difference between the highlight and shadow areas is 7 stops, my camera’s sensor can handle 12 stops.

This is one of my favourite ways to meter as I know that the contrast range of my scene falls within the dynamic range of my camera’s sensor and that I have pinned my highlights and shadows to the correct zones, optimising my exposure. All of the other tones between my highlights and shadows fall into the correct zones.

Learning to meter like this can be very rewarding. You are taking control of exposure and making sure that your scene or subject is correctly exposed.

Remember: Light meters measure the intensity of light. There are two types of metering, incident and reflected.

Incident metering measures the intensity of light falling on the subject and
providing that we can measure the light falling on our subject, it is by far the most accurate way to ascertain the correct exposure for our scene or subject.

Reflected metering measures the intensity of light being reflected by our subject. Because of the different reflective properties of our subject or scene this intensity of light differs. Dark subjects reflect less light, bright subjects more.

It is because of these different reflective properties that we need to take control of our camera’s metering and adjust or apply exposure compensation as necessary.

In this blog post I want to talk about how to assess a scene and select the best exposure and in Part 3 of this blog I will talk about what to do when a scene falls outside of the dynamic range of your camera. But first a recap and some notes on histograms. and camera settings

Why you should not rely on your histogram

Your camera’s histogram only shows you the distribution of tones in your scene and whilst it is informative it is not an accurate way to control exposure.

Camera settings

Most cameras come with built-in light meters but when your camera is in anything but manual mode you don’t get to see the light meter, only the exposure compensation settings and perhaps a histogram

When you switch your camera to manual mode you are presented with a similar view but the exposure compensation value indicator turns into an expsoure meter with a number of stops shown.

In the shot above the camera is set to ISO 800 an aperture of F5 and a shutter speed of 1/40s. Spot metering has been enabled and the spot reading shows that the subject under the crosshairs is 2 stops brighter than the mean exposure.

Mean Exposure

What is mean exposure?

Without getting too technical, scenes are made up of a number of tones. Cameras use reflective light metering to measure the brightness of a scene or subject.

When using matrix or evaluative metering it measures the overall brightness of the scene or subject and then sets a mean exposure (average exposure for the scene) based on how dark or how light the scene or subject is.

This value is represented as zero (0) on your camera’s exposure meter (see above). Zero (0) equates to what is commonly known as zone 5, 18% grey or midtone.

18% grey represents the average reflectiveness of most day to day objects that we photograph and light meters are calibrated to produce an 18% grey tone.

The main point here is that if your subject is very dark or black your camera’s meter will set the exposure to brighten the subject. If your subject is very bright or white, your camera’s meter will set the exposure to darken the subject. Making them conform to 18% grey.

Knowing where your tones lie, taking spot meter readings from the most important tones and adjusting your exposure manually, so that your subject falls on the correct zone is the key to optimising exposure!

Spot Metering & Matrix Metering

Below is an every day scene, it’s made up of a number tones. Because the contrast range of the scene does exceed the dynamic range of my camera’s sensor, I was able to take the shot knowing that my shadows and highlights would render properly and not be too dark (underexposed) or too light (overexposed).

But how did I choose my aperture and shutter speed combination to ensure optimum exposure?

Let’s look at the scene from a tone perspective. Its made up of highlights, shadows and midtones. Notice that there are very few bright tones in this scene, the boathouse (highlight tone 8) is a relatively small percentage of the the overall scene but important in my shot.

If I had left my camera on matrix metering mode and used the exposure suggested by my camera, this would have happened.

The scene is a little washed out as the matrix metering has tried to average out the exposure giving more emphasis to the darker tones.

Because I knew this would happen, I used a handheld light-meter and took a spot reading from the boathouse as I did not want the boathouse to be overexposed.

Tones relate to stops, each zone is equivalent to 1 stop on your camera.

My spot-meter gave a mean exposure reading of F8 @ 1/1000s (zone 5). Remember whether your subject is dark or light, A reflected light-meter always sets a mean exposure. Knowing this, I set my expsoure to F8 @ 1/250s. giving my boathouse 2 stops more exposure, pinning it to zone 7.

When you put your camera in manual mode and combine it with spot-metering, you can assess the dynamic range of your scene, measure the important areas and set your exposure accordingly.

Here is the final image

The boathouse has been placed on zone 7 to ensure that there is detail in the boathouse and that it is not too bright and all of the other tones in the scene have been rendered appropriately. Giving me the optimum exposure for my scene.

Notice that working this way I have managed to retain the subtle detail of the clouds in the sky too.

More on Camera Metering Modes

Another benefit of working this was is that there is little, if any correction to be made when post processing as the exposure is spot on!

The better cameras come with three types of metering, Evaluative (also known as matrix or segment metering), Centrer weighted and Spot metering.

Matrix and centre weighted metering provide a general expsoure that may or may not be correct for the scene. But, the only way to truly evaluate your scene and set exposure accurately is to turn to spot metering.

In my next blog post I will focus on how I use the spot meter in my camera and the benefits of using a hand-held light meter. I will also talk about what to do when the scene falls outside of the dynamic range of your camera’s sensor.

What do all types of subjects have in common? They all reflect light! It does not matter whether you are shooting landscapes, portraits, still-life or any other subject.

Your subject will be made up of a number of reflective tones and your camera’s meter will measure these tones and set the exposure accordingly.

These tones can be thought of as shades of black and white and are called zones.

Each zone represents 1 stop.

• Zone 0 can be thought of as pure black
• Zone 5 is commonly referred to as a midtone.
• Zone 10 is pure white

(I have used this shot of my back garden as it has has a good tonal range for the purpose of this blog).

Most images are a mixture of tones.

When shooting in colour, it is hard to visualise these tones.

And when trying to optimise your exposure you need to consider the contrast range of your subject and the dynamic range of your camera’s sensor.

That means when you are assessing your scene, you need to know

• What are my important highlights?
•  Where are my midtones?
•  Where are my important shadows?
•  What is the overall contrast range of my scene?

Look at the image below

It’s made up of highlights, shadows and midtones.

The contrast range of these scene is within the dynamic range of my camera’s sensor. This means that I will have both detail in my highlight and in my shadow areas.

Anything outside of this contrast range will either be dark or shadow areas with no detail (black) or burnt out highlights or white with no detail. In other words, they will be Under exposed or Over exposed!

My Panasonic GX8 allows me to switch my live view to black and white and I use it to help me assess the contrast range in a scene. You might want to check your camera settings to see if you can do the same. I find that this helps me with composition also.

Let’s stick with the concept of zones for a moment.
Underexposure

When you make adjustments to your exposure you are moving the zones to the left or the right.

Look what has happened here a two stop underexposure (-2) has pushed all of the tones to the left. Zone 2 has now become Zone 0, which means that there will be no detail in the chair. And look at the sky, it was probably a Zone 9 but is now falls in Zone 7. We have more detail in the sky but have lost detail in the black chair.

Looking at the two histograms above of the same scene you can see that underxposing by two stops has moved the histogram to the right and we no longer have many midtones. The picture on the right has a more balanced exposure, the histogram is more even and the image brighter. Although we may be clipping some highlights.

Overexposure

The opposite happens when we increase our exposure.

The zones get pushed to the left and everyting gets lighter. Our chairs have turned grey when they are really black and the sky is now burnt out with no detail.

Optimising Exposure

An important concept is the notion of midtones. Every type of metering trys to turn your subject into a midtone (zone 5). Without getting into all of the techincal detail basically, most objects in a scene reflect light back at around 18%, half way between black (zone 0) and white (zone 10).

Meters measure how light or dark a subject is and then compensate or bias an exposure towards zone 5. pushing our zones to the left or to the right, zeroing out our exposure!

Practically, if a scene or subject reflects less light or is very dark, the meter will try to brighten the subject. If the scene or subject is very bright or light, the meter will try to darken the subject.

This is how sometimes our meters are fooled into providing an exposure that is perhaps not right for the subject. There is one exception to this and that is when we use an incident light-meter. Incident light-meters measure the light falling on a subject and not the reflective qualities of the subject. These meters are usually hand-held.

The question is; when using your camera’s meter, how can you visualise this, how do you optimise your exposure for the scene you are shooting and do you use evaluative (matrix), centre weighted or spot metering?

Matrix or evaluative metering, sometimes also called multi-zone metering divides the scene into a number of zones and tries to come up with an optimum expsoure. Providing that the proportion of highlight, shadow and midtones are roughly the same and the lighting fairly even and not to contrasty, this type of metering will do a good job.

This is the type of metering most people rely on. In this shot though, the top third of the scene is where the main highlights are and the rest of the scene has midtones or darker tones, this has caused the evaluative metering to bias the exposure and brighten the image.

As you can see, the sky has little detail and the histogram shows the bright areas of the sky pushed to the right side of the histogram.

Look at the same shot again using manual exposure settings and spot metering.

This exposure is more balanced. I have used two spot meter readings and averaged them out to pin my highlight and shadow details to the zones I want them to fall in.

Because I was thinking in terms of tones and metering my scene to  see where the important highlights and shadows fell, I was able to have full control over setting the optimum exposure.

Also, I could tell that my highlights and shadows fell within the dynamic range of my camera. Which means that all the tones between the highest highlight and deepest shadow will also be correctly exposed.

I have pinned my exposure and know with confidence that my exposure is optimised for the image. Your camera’s built in spot meter can do some of this but the best way to assess the scene in front of you and the most accurate way to set exposure is still with a hand-held lightmeter.

Of course, if the contrast range of the subject is outside of the dynamic range of your camera, then you will always lose some highlight or shadow detail or maybe both.

In summary

• Learn to assess your subject matter in terms of tones and tonal range
• Identify important highlight and shadow areas
• Measure the number of stops between the two and set your exposure accordingly
•  Make more use of your camera’s spot metering capbability
•  And finally, if you are serious about your photogrpahy consider geting a hand-held light meter.

I personally use a Sekonic handheld spot meter as it allows me to take multiple readings and average them out.

There is more to write on this subject but that is for another occasion. If you have any questions or need help leave a comment and I will reply.

There are plenty of sites out their that explain the use of the exposure triangle and the relationships between aperture, shutter speed, ISO and the use of your cameras white balance function. However, not many talk about being able to ‘pin your exposure‘, what do I mean by that? It’s the ability to look at the scene or subject in front of you and determine the appropriate camera settings so that your resulting exposure whether output as a JPEG or RAW file, renders all of the important subject matter of  the scene appropriately.

There are a number of tools to help you

• Your cameras histogram
• Your cameras build in exposure meter
• Your own  eyes and photographic knowledge
• Your cameras scene modes
• Your cameras metering mode
• A handheld exposure meter
• Understanding the dynamic range of your camera

The saying, ‘you can’t get out of a negative what is not there‘  is also true of digital photography. It is important to understand the dynamic range of your camera. In terms of photography, we are talking about the number of stops difference  between the lightest and darkest part of your scene and your cameras ability to handle the contrast within in the scene.

Looking at the image above, we can see that we have some ‘burnt out highlights’ (setting sun) and some ‘blocked shadow details’ (rocks). The ‘contrast range‘ of the scene exceeds the ‘dynamic range’ of the camera. I was using (Samsung galaxy s6 mobile phone). An important point here is that; whilst a cameras histogram can alert us to blocked shadows and highlights, it cannot tell us which parts of the scene will be under or over exposed. As photographers we would need to

• use our own personal experience to interpret the histogram and scene before us.
• meter our scene intelligently.

The things to help you do this are

• Your own eyes and  your experience in being able to judge a scene
• An exposure meter  set to spot metering mode (inbuilt into your camera or handheld)
• The histogram of your camera
• And if you have it, live view on your camera

Using a spot meter allows us to measure the contrast range of the scene and decide for ourselves the best exposure setting.

Personally, I use the Sekonic L-758D handheld light meter. In the scene below, I was able to take three readings from what I judged to be the most important parts of my scene in terms of highlights, shadows and midtones. And using the Sekonic L-758’s multiple spot metering and averaging function, I was able to pin my exposure.

I can also see from the display that I have a five stop contrast range, which easily fits within the dynamic range of my camera.

If the highlight and shadow reading had been +3 (highlight) -3(shadow) I know I would have been at the limit of the contrast range of my camera.

I also know that in any post processing I do that I have enough data to push and pull my highlights and shadows. More than a 7 stop contrast range and I would have to

• change viewpoint to exclude burnt out highlights
• change viewpoint to exclude blocked shadows
• Return another time or day when the lighting conditions were more favourable
• Use HDR photography
• Except that I am going to have blocked shadows, or burnt out highlights, or maybe both
• Don’t take the picture

Despite the sophistication of  digital cameras and their complex metering systems, my personal preference is to always use a handheld light meter. Why? Because experience has taught me that using a handheld light meter in either incident or spot-metering mode provides me with the best tool for interpreting the scene in front of me and setting exposure.

Links

Sekonic USA Light Meters

Buy a light meter on Amazon

Happy New Year to all