Beginner questions

[mtk]

Hi everyone,

I have a couple of questions, I'm sure they are pretty basic but I'm fairly new to this so any help is appreciated! I've read through Understanding Exposure, and have learned how to make a 'correct exposure' but I'm still having some difficulties.

1) What does taking a meter reading mean? When everyone talks of 'taking a meter reading', and then 'recomposing' does this mean for example, if I were to take a meter reading off the blue sky - I would first point and focus on the sky - and set my aperture and shutter speed until the correct exposure is indicated? And is it necessary to 'focus' on the sky if I am just taking a meter reading? Also, when recomposing after taking the meter reading, to say some mountains below, do I keep my finger on the shutter button and simply move the lens from the sky to the mountain? Or do I take my finger off completely, but leave the exposure settings intact, and then refocus on the mountains?

2) Which brings me to my next point. When taking a simple photo of a landscape, where would I focus? I've found that if I focus on just the mountains or something close by, the sky seems overexposed and there is no texture to the clouds. However if I first take a meter reading off the sky, and then recompose, the sky has texture, but now the rest of the image (e.g. mountains, paddocks) seem too dark and underexposed. How would I take a correctly exposed image in this case?

3) Finally, I haven't yet got a tripod but I noticed I will probably need one if I am to continue doing landscape photography. For the meanwhile, is there a shutter speed cutoff where I can getaway without using a tripod, and a shutter speed after which point I should definitely be using one?


Thanks alot everyone, I know these might seem to be silly questions but I appreciate any help you guys can give me. BTW I have a Canon EOS-550D, and the only lens I have so far is a 50mm, which I heard was a good beginner lens to practice with. Cheers

 

[MTVision]

Hi everyone,

I have a couple of questions, I'm sure they are pretty basic but I'm fairly new to this so any help is appreciated! I've read through Understanding Exposure, and have learned how to make a 'correct exposure' but I'm still having some difficulties.

1) What does taking a meter reading mean? When everyone talks of 'taking a meter reading', and then 'recomposing' does this mean for example, if I were to take a meter reading off the blue sky - I would first point and focus on the sky - and set my aperture and shutter speed until the correct exposure is indicated? And is it necessary to 'focus' on the sky if I am just taking a meter reading? Also, when recomposing after taking the meter reading, to say some mountains below, do I keep my finger on the shutter button and simply move the lens from the sky to the mountain? Or do I take my finger off completely, but leave the exposure settings intact, and then refocus on the mountains?

2) Which brings me to my next point. When taking a simple photo of a landscape, where would I focus? I've found that if I focus on just the mountains or something close by, the sky seems overexposed and there is no texture to the clouds. However if I first take a meter reading off the sky, and then recompose, the sky has texture, but now the rest of the image (e.g. mountains, paddocks) seem too dark and underexposed. How would I take a correctly exposed image in this case?

3) Finally, I haven't yet got a tripod but I noticed I will probably need one if I am to continue doing landscape photography. For the meanwhile, is there a shutter speed cutoff where I can getaway without using a tripod, and a shutter speed after which point I should definitely be using one?

Thanks alot everyone, I know these might seem to be silly questions but I appreciate any help you guys can give me. BTW I have a Canon EOS-550D, and the only lens I have so far is a 50mm, which I heard was a good beginner lens to practice with. Cheers

To take a meter reading off the sky i don't believe you have to press the shutter button halfway day. There is nothing to focus on in the sky. Just adjust the exposure for what the focus point is on then move the camera and get focus and shoot. I may be wrong so be forewarned.
You could possibly use a little fill flash or a reflector to being some detail back into the dark spots. Not really sure though.

It's hard to take a perfectly exposed image if the dynamic range is to big - bright skies/dark mountains. If the mountains aren't completely black and are just a little underexposed you can probably fix this in an editing program. Do you shoot in raw? Where you focus depends on the scene I would think!

Normally for handheld you shouldn't go below 1/50 for a 50mm lens. You shouldn't go below 1/focal length of lens. You can go lower if you are steady and subject is steady. You can make a human tripod - sit on ground with knees up, rest elbows on knees

I hope this helps a little. Hopefully some other people answer since I might be wrong about the first couple things

 

[katerolla]

for landscape photography there are a number of filters you can get to help with exposure issues, try the circular polarizing fitter first, get yourself a second hand book and landscape shooting or check out one the filter brand website like hoya they should have some examples there, also don’t forget google is a great searching tool and youtube will have great tutorials on this subject too

for the tripod side general rule is whatever focal length your shooting ( if you have a 70 – 200 mm lens if shooting at focal length of 70mm than shutter should be at 1/70 or higher, if shooting at 200mm than shutter should be at 1/200 or higher)

 

[mtk]

Thanks for the quick responses and tips guys!

How about the recomposing thing - do people 'normally' keep the shutter pressed halfway when recomposing or do you let go and focus on your new subject? Common sense tells me the latter one is correct, just want confirmation.

 

[mtk]

To take a meter reading off the sky i don't believe you have to press the shutter button halfway day. There is nothing to focus on in the sky. Just adjust the exposure for what the focus point is on then move the camera and get focus and shoot. I may be wrong so be forewarned.
You could possibly use a little fill flash or a reflector to being some detail back into the dark spots. Not really sure though.

It's hard to take a perfectly exposed image if the dynamic range is to big - bright skies/dark mountains. If the mountains aren't completely black and are just a little underexposed you can probably fix this in an editing program. Do you shoot in raw? Where you focus depends on the scene I would think!

Normally for handheld you shouldn't go below 1/50 for a 50mm lens. You shouldn't go below 1/focal length of lens. You can go lower if you are steady and subject is steady. You can make a human tripod - sit on ground with knees up, rest elbows on knees

I hope this helps a little. Hopefully some other people answer since I might be wrong about the first couple things

With regards to the dynamic range, say I was shooting my cat, and cos its black and white where would be the best place to focus - on the black or the white?

I don't shoot in RAW either, I know next to nothing about post-production. I figured I should try and get the basics sorted first, but I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to start learning that as early as possible aswell

 

[katerolla]

read your manual on metering this will help you when metering different subjects, I change my metering all the time when shooting semi auto eg. Tv or Av mode, but when shooting in manual mode I use evaluative metering

 

[WesternGuy]

Hi mtk and welcome to the forum - the folks here are quite good and while the opinions and comments may be a little hard to take sometimes, I am sure they all mean well...my 0.02¢ worth...

#1. Taking a meter reading is just that - you point the camera at your subject or area of interest and depress the shutter button half-way - this activates the focusing mechanism and also the onboard metering system and the readout tells you what's what...your camera will "focus" on the sky because that is what happens when you depress the shutter button half-way - this may be a bit of a problem sometimes, as least it is for me, when there are no clouds or features in the sky to focus on. If you take your finger off the shutter button and then point the camera somewhere else and press the shutter half-way, it will refocus and remeter the scene - at least that is how mine seems to work (Canon 5D Mk I) - nothing really happens "in the camera" until and unless you press the shutter button half-way.

#2. You have hit on a problem that all of us landscape photographers have - the problem that if you focus on the land, the sky is often blown out - this is why ND graduated filters were invented. If you don't know what these are, then Google the subject and you will find all kinds of info on these things. In situations like these, I will often underexpose half a stop or so and then I can get it back in the shadow areas with Lightroom when I process it later - this works best, though, if you are shooting raw images. A circular polarizer will sometimes help, but don't forget that they will also affect your exposure by about two stops. Also, if there is a quite a wide dynamic range between the sky and the land, then I will try an HDR approach of ± 2 ev and then a normal exposure - for this you would need a stable tripod and a remote shutter release cable.

I find that when I am shooting landscapes with a lot of clouds in them, then I tend to meter slightly in favour of the clouds and then I can lighten up the land part of the image in Lightroom or Photoshop.

#3. You note that you do not have a tripod yet, but that you will need one - definitely - if landscape photography is where you want to go, then a good sturdy tripod and a good ball head are a necessity, as well as a cable release for your shutter. It has already been noted the shutter speed requirements for a handheld shot - 1/focal length of the lens, but you have a camera with an APS-C sensor, so the rule changes slightly to 1/focal length*1.6, so if you are shooting with a 50mm lens, as you have, the the slowest speed would be 1/(50*1.6) - 1/80th of a second, and for a 200mm lens, the minimum handheld speed would be 1(200*1.6) = 1/320th of a second

The real key, at least for me, in capturing landscape images is to try for the clouds and then make sure there is enough information to recover the shadows or darker parts of the image - I don't know how else to put it, because a lot of what I do in composing a landscape image comes from my experience in learning what works and what doesn't and I find it difficult to explain because to me it is just "something I do". I would suggest that you may want to read The Magic of Digital Landscape Photography by Rob Sheppard. I found it to be a fairly decent reference for all aspects of landscape photography and searching the web with Google will also get you lots of free advice. HTH.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[MTVision]

Thanks for the quick responses and tips guys!

How about the recomposing thing - do people 'normally' keep the shutter pressed halfway when recomposing or do you let go and focus on your new subject? Common sense tells me the latter one is correct, just want confirmation.

Decomposing is different then metering off something. Say your camera has 3 focus points and you are focusing on someones eyes. Press shutter button halfway down and lock focus then move the camera to put your subject somewhere besides the center of frame. When doing this don't depress the shutter otherwise you lose focus.

Metering off the sky is different than recomposing the shot

 

[MTVision]

Decomposing is different then metering off something. Say your camera has 3 focus points and you are focusing on someones eyes. Press shutter button halfway down and lock focus then move the camera to put your subject somewhere besides the center of frame. When doing this don't depress the shutter otherwise you lose focus.

Metering off the sky is different than recomposing the shot

Yeah - can't edit my post on my phone. Suppose to be recomposing not decomposing!

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

your question would appear to be answered. could I just point out that you appear to have some excellent kit. The 550 is an excellent all round camera, and canon make 3 50mm lenses. All of which are stunning. the quality from a 50mm will far outweigh a much more expensive zoom. Although you will have to use your legs more instead of ZOOOOOOming. If you want a wider angle (Panoramic or whatever)try taking a group of overlapping portrait shots and stitching them together.
the point about the difference in light between the sky and the ground would have 2 main solutions. Using a nutral grad filter with the dark bit over the sky and the kight bit over the land will (depending on the strength of the filter (There are many to choose from to correct different strengths of difference).

the other is to choose the time of day that you shoot. During the day the sky is usually lighter than the land, and as evening approaches this difference reduces and can even invert. It is at about this time that your camera will record detail in both parts of the image. To shoot HDR you WILL DEFINATELY need a VERY GOOD tripod.

 

[KmH]

A couple of points and questions.

What metering mode are you using? Auto focus will not work if there is no contrast it can detect at the selected focus point.

Your T2i does not have color-aware metering.

The Spot, Partial, and Center-weighted metering modes are locked to the center of the viewfinder. Evaluative metering, which averages the light in the entire scene is linkable to any focus point. I have no idea why Canon does that. Does anyone else?

Evaluative metering (linkable to any AF point)
Partial metering (approx. 9% of viewfinder at center)
Spot metering (approx. 4% of viewfinder at center)
Center-weighted average metering

 

[thereyougo!14 2]

As far as tripods are concerned, they are a matter of taste. I have a fairly heavy aluminium one, and a light carbon fibre one. Both are Manfrotto's although I have had a CF Giottos too, but hated the twist locks on them, they took too long and ended up falling apart. I find the alu one is better in windy conditions. My Cf one was blown over in a gust but I managed to catch it before my camera hit the ground - it had been on a long exposure with a ND 400 filter on it.

I have had tilt and shift heads and one of the larger giottos ball heads. I have to be honest I HATED the ball head. I found it imprecise and fiddly. So I got a tilt and shift manfrotto head instead. YMMV of course. The important thing is to carry a tripod and use it whenever possible. The only thing I find it spoils is the spontaneous shots. I still do these with my tripod on my pack and up the ISO to keep the shot steady. A bit annoying later to find that I forgot to change the ISO back down for the next few shots that are on a tripod. You live and learn as they say...

 

[mtk]

Thanks again for the helpful responses. You guys have helped out so much already. I read about those ND filters in UE, and will definately look into them.

I'm still having trouble getting my head around recomposing and metering. Can someone explain the difference?

For example, if I was metering off of, for some reason say the green grass beside a persons face. Would I focus and meter off the grass, and while keeping the shutter button pressed, move the camera towards the subject and shoot the subject (ie someone's face)? Then wouldn't their face be defocused?

Also, I thought that recomposing means moving your camera around, so for instance if I was recomposing a landscape scene I would move the camera so that the mountain was on the far left instead of the far right. Or does recomposing mean moving the images within your camera (ie changing a person's position) while keeping your camera still? And when recomposing is it usual to keep the focus locked?

 

[jwbryson1]

In Undestanding Exposure, I believe what Bryan Peterson means is to point at the sky with the camera in manual mode and take a meter reading off of the sky. By pressing 1/2 way on the shutter release button you'll be able to get a meter reading by looking at the camera settings and where the needle is pointing. You do not need to be in focus to get a proper meter reading. By recomposing, it is my understanding that you would then turn the camera back to the subject you wish to photograph and while still in manual mode, adjust your settings to the same readings that you found when you metered off of the sky. You would not move the camera while holding down the shutter release button. You would instead check the meter reading off of the sky, memorize it, remove your finger from the shutter button and point back at your subject. Then make sure that in manual mode you adjust the settings to the reading you just memorized and then you'd take the photo.

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[MTVision]

Thanks again for the helpful responses. You guys have helped out so much already. I read about those ND filters in UE, and will definately look into them.

I'm still having trouble getting my head around recomposing and metering. Can someone explain the difference?

For example, if I was metering off of, for some reason say the green grass beside a persons face. Would I focus and meter off the grass, and while keeping the shutter button pressed, move the camera towards the subject and shoot the subject (ie someone's face)? Then wouldn't their face be defocused?

Also, I thought that recomposing means moving your camera around, so for instance if I was recomposing a landscape scene I would move the camera so that the mountain was on the far left instead of the far right. Or does recomposing mean moving the images within your camera (ie changing a person's position) while keeping your camera still? And when recomposing is it usual to keep the focus locked?

Recomposing is locking focus on your subject and then moving your camera so the person is in a different position. This is helpful when you have only a few focus points to choose from. I think people lock the focus when recomposing.

If you were, for example, metering off the grass you would hold shutter halfway down, adjust exposure, aperture until you have correct exposure. Let go of shutter then focus on person. If you don't depress shutter after metering of the grass the person will not be in focus.

Metering - getting correct exposure for something

Recomposing - locking focus of subject then adjust camera so that subject is in a different position in frame - rule of thirds

Metering and recomposing are 2 totally different things.