Metering Help

[crissyanon]

( Nikon D3100) I am trying to get the proper lighting but I am confused about what I am looking at when looking into the view finder.When I am looking in the view finder I see the exposure meter and thought when I look at it if the lines are in the center I would have the proper exposure, however, when I take the picture and then look at the little digram that shows the lighting it is never exposed right. Not sure why this happens. I've even tried using exposure compensation but that never turns out right either. I can take the same picture 4 or 5 times in the same spot nothing any different and it gives me different reading. So fustrating and I can't seem to get it right. I have tons of books I've been reading and they are not helping me at all.
Another thing I notices is when I am using tha Aperture Priorty mode when I change the aperture to a smaller number it looks like the picture is close up but when I use a higher number the same picture looks far away. That has me confused as well. When I change the apeture I have to change the lighing too?? So many things to learn.

 

[Patrice]

Well it seems you are having a bit of difficulty. I think, for one, you are mistaking focal length for aperture, if you are using a zoom lens. Post a couple of example photos showing what you are describing, be sure to include the camera settings you used, or that the camera selected (aperture, shutter speed, iso and focal length). The forum members might then be able to help you out. Have you read your camera manual and understood it? A good way to learn is to try every setting and feature described in the book one at a time. Read the book one page at a time and experiment with every feature, one at a time, until you understand what is going on. It's low and tedious but with digital the only cost of experimentation is your time and the electricity to charge your batteries and run your computer.

 

[Big Mike]

Understanding Histograms

 

[KmH]

Your D3100 has 3 metering modes:

1. spot
2. center-weighted
3. matrix

which of the 3 do you use?

I have a blog post that has some information about how to use The In-Camera Light Meter

 

[Robin Usagani]

My only suggestion is, avoid spot metering with aperture priority unless you really know what you are doing. If you really know what you are doing though, you probably will be using manual anyway with spot metering.

Spot metering + Aperture priority + New shooter = Recipe of disaster.