evaluative metering?

[wgp1987]

i learned a little about evaluative metering today. it was about how the camera will take three photos in differant exposures. is it worth doing? or only in certin situations?

 

[jdwyer]

I used to manually bracket exposures on sunrises and sunsets. Just so that at the end of the day I could sort through them and pick my favorite.
Another option which i have yet to explore is called HDR - high dynamic range. you bracket the exposures (or evaluative metering as you called it) and then later combine them with a photo editing software. your three (or more) exposures will be combined and pull the highlights and shadows to create a (much as the name implies) high dynamic range.
you'll see a few people posting HDR photos for comment on the forum. Check them out to see what you can do. sometimes it can be overdone and look cartoony, but other times it turns out quite nicely.
whether you choose to use HDR is your preference - for me, i bracket just for sunrise/sets and have never combined photos as of yet.

 

[JerryPH]

What you described is not evaluative metering, but bracketing. Evaluative metering is when the camera takes meter readings of several different parts of the scene, and averages out the settings to take a picture that is acceptable overall.

Bracketing is where several pictures are taken at different exposure settings.

So which one are you referring to?

 

[Garbz]

Jerry what you are describing is centre weighted average metering.

Evaluative metering is when the camera meters most of the scene and then combines this information with the current selected focus point, aperture, and current focus distance to try and guess what subject you are trying to photograph. This may result in an average, but in trickier scenes like snow, sand, or other high contrast situations is wildly different.

Bracketing on the other hand is not worth doing unless your application specifically requires it (HDR photography). Don't spray and pick the best photo. This is teaching yourself not to learn to use the camera, but to simply go and pick the best exposure afterwards. Instead learn to use your camera without bracketing. Very soon you'll find you will be able to predict exactly how the scene will turn out, and can use the Exposure Compensation controls before taking a test shot and get a perfect photo every time.

 

[Torus34]

Oh, my! All this confusion.

I'm just using a simple separate exposure meter and the Zone system. Seems kinda basic by comparison.

 

[JerryPH]

Jerry what you are describing is centre weighted average metering.

You are right Garbz, thanks for the correction.

In either case, we still do not know what the OP is referring to, metering or bracketing.

 

[wgp1987]

well im not sure! haha ......... i assume braketing. where the camera takes three photos in differant exposures? cool feature, but once i started shooting in raw i can adjust exposure in photoshop. but .... always better to get it correct in the camera first, right? that layering "hdr" buisness you were talkin about sounds cool. can i do that in photoshop? o and when should i be shooting with braketing? (best time to use it?)

 

[Garbz]

You want to use bracketing when you need to take 2 images of different brightness very quickly. It really doesn't apply to normal photography unless you are spraying and praying that one will be right.

Bracketing is useful when making HDR images (google for some tutorials), or if you are otherwise blending frames of different brightness.