Note to self and all other xsi users...

[JeffieLove]

I would not use spot metering unless you use manual (and trully understand what to expose and where to set it on the meter). Using spot metering and aperture priority will bring you more trouble than help you.

A solid understanding of how and when to use AE-L will cure a lot of those troubles.

I use center weighted 70% of the time, spot metering 25% and matrix the remaining 5%. I also use at least one flash whenever possible.





p!nK

I have canon and you have nikon so I don't have any idea what AE-L is... Unless it's what Schwetty is talking about as the manual setting on Canon. I don't know what Schwetty shoots.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Sarah, you still need to learn all the tools you have at your disposal. If you understand how each of the metering modes work, what they meter for and how, you wouldn't need to ask if you should "stick with evaluative." I have watched you progress from the begining, and you seem to jump to a new task to learn, out of frustration with the previous task. Adding flash can be very daunting in the beginning, which can be greatly magnified by not fully understanding everything else. You need to practice, practice, practice, and analyze the results. As said earlier, you don't necessarily need a person to practice on, but use a stuffed animal in the various lighting conditions you tend to shoot in.

Keep shooting, reading, asking, and you'll get there.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Good post pgriz, I often don't have the patience to write books like you.
Maybe I should just copy and paste information that is readily available on the web.

 

[JeffieLove]

Sarah, you’re dealing with light, and you already know that you have to have a certain quantity of it for the exposure to be “properly exposed”. As far as the camera is concerned, “properly exposed” is when whatever you’re metering off, is about 18% (some say it’s 15%, or even 12%, but let’s ignore the actual number for the time being). You have several metering modes on your camera: Evaluative, center-weighted, and spot.

Evaluative looks at the overall picture. Center-weighed looks at the overall picture, but gives more importance (weight) to the center. Spot metering looks only at the very center of the picture.

If your scene is more or less evenly lit, then evaluative is a good metering mode.

If the scene is more contrasty, or has rather strong differences in overall tone, then center-weighted metering is useful by pointing the camera at the most important part of the image, getting a reading off that, locking it it, and then recomposing to get a better composition, but having the right meter reading for your chosen subject. This approach assumes that your subject is not at the center of the frame (otherwise you would not have had to lock the exposure).

If the scene is very variable, and your primary point of interest is much darker or lighter than the rest of the scene, then the spot meter is the way to go, as it will allow you to set the exposure based on what the light on your primary point of interest is. For instance, you may be shooting a person with the primary light behind them (strongly backlit). If you use the evaluative meter, it will seriously underexpose the person (because their face is in shadow), as it “thinks” the backlit part has to be part of the average exposure. Center-weighted exposure will also not work well, as it will be influenced by the strong backlight. However, spot-meter reading off the face will give you the proper exposure for the face (and, allow the backlit portion to blow out, but you don’t “usually” care about that).

Remember, however, no matter what mode you’ve shot in, the meter is still trying to set the exposure so that its chosen area (whether large or small) is averaging to 18% grey. Now, what if your subject is darker or lighter than 18% grey? That’s when you dial in the exposure compensation. For example, suppose you’re shooting a dark-colored subject, and you’ve spot-metered off the subject and got a reading of 1/250 at f/8. Now the meter doesn’t know that you’ve aimed at a dark-colored subject, and will try to make that subject equivalent to 18% grey. You’ve got to tell the camera to adjust the exposure so that dark stays dark. Maybe a two-stop adjustment is necessary to do that. So although the meter says you need to expose at 1/250 at F/8, you dial in the exposure compensation of -2, and the actual exposure will now be two stops less (say, 1/1000 at f/8).

What if you’re shooting a snow owl? Well, the meter again gives you an exposure that is grey, but you know that the owl is white (say two stops whiter than grey). In this case, you’d meter off the owl, and adjust your exposure compensation to +2, so that the actual exposure is two stops higher than what the meter “thinks” it should be.

Exposure compensation only works when you’re in Av, Tv, or P mode. If you’re in manual mode, you tell the camera what the exposure should be, as you are in full control of all the exposure variables.

Another idea for exposure control, especially if you’re dealing with pretty static light, is to take a few shots at, above and below the exposure as recommended by the camera, check the histogram, decide which exposure gives you the best result, and then lock it in using the manual mode. Then, no matter whether you’re pointing at dark or light subjects, you will have the same consistent exposure. If your light changes, then your exposure has to change as well. But this approach allows you to establish a good exposure baseline and have a consistent set of shots.

It is not clear to me if you know how to read the histogram display on your camera, but it is one of the most valuable tools that digital photography gave to the photographer. Learn how to use it, and your exposure control will become much, much better.

Okay, instead of breaking up the quote (that was my original plan...) I'll just start listing my questions for you from the things you explained and I'm very grateful for you taking the time to write this reply and explain things...

1. If I am shooting someone against a sunset, the sunset is behind them, is there a way WITHOUT flash to have them lit well AND not blow out the sunset? Or is that one of those cases where flash is inevitable?

2. There have been times where I have taken a shot and it looked way too bright or way too dark on the LCD so I have switched to manual and adjusted the settings either shutter speed or aperture and it has helped. So I have worked in manual mode as well, I just find it easier when doing a photo shoot to use AV and not have to manually adjust my settings for every other shot. I guess that's lazy of me and I should work on that a little bit. Maybe that is something that more hands on help and experience with will be good for.

3. With the EC, if I am taking a picture of my kid outside on an overcast day (just for example) and the camera says they are exposed properly but I think they are too dark, wouldn't bumping the EC up to +1 then overexpose the whole picture?

4. Again, thank you for explaining all the metering options clearly... I am still curious though, is there one of the 3 that would be the best to just leave my camera on while I learn the other basics? I'm more or less prepared at this point to go back to the basics... I understand aperture/shutter speed/iso as far as how they work together and what needs to be changed when, other than the fact that recently I've heard something along the lines of shutter speed will darken/lighten your background and aperture will darken/lighten your subject... I may have that backwards, but remembering is a big issue for me... I wish I could just write notes on everything I am told and learn and keep them handy somehow... but it seems like I could have every "field guide" there is and still not have everything that I've learned on forums...

5. Do you think at this point I should just skip Av/Tv/P and shoot in Manual? I know that is contradicting myself on saying that I'm prepared to just go back to the basics, but I figured I'd ask anyway. Maybe I'll learn better if I force myself to use manual?

I do know how to read the histogram to the extent of... If the shading of the histogram on the left side is really high, that means more than likely under exposed. If it's the opposite and the shading is high on the right side, that more or less means over exposed. If it's pretty even all the way across the histogram then you have a pretty good exposure. And that's what kind of gets me. If all of that is right, then a lot of shots from the engagement session (including the ones I posted) are all pretty well exposed. #1 is just slightly under exposed, #2 is just slightly over exposed, and #3 has an overcast sky which I believe is the reason that there is a little bit of a peak to the right of the histogram, but it's not clipped on the right border of the histogram. And this is based off of the SOOC images in LR. Not using the histogram on the camera...

 

[bigtwinky]

I don't usually like to critique someone else's work who doesnt post here, but I'm not sure you will learn all that much with off camera lights from that photographer.
Good luck with the mentoring, let us know how it goes. I'm sure they have plenty of things that they can pass on, but I'm pretty sure you'll have to keep on learning on your own

 

[JeffieLove]

I don't usually like to critique someone else's work who doesnt post here, but I'm not sure you will learn all that much with off camera lights from that photographer.
Good luck with the mentoring, let us know how it goes. I'm sure they have plenty of things that they can pass on, but I'm pretty sure you'll have to keep on learning on your own

I'm sure there is still more I'll learn on my own as well, I'm just hoping that by working under a much more experienced photographer (I won't use the controversial "pro" again) that I will learn a lot there and just expand from there.

 

[bigtwinky]

Definately a good opportunity, if anything to get some shooting experience without the stress of having to deliver a product

 

[pgriz]

@ Bitter Jeweler: my momma said I'd be either a preacher or a teacher, so these long-winded epistles seem to be hinting that she is/was right.

@ Sarah, see below:
1) The digital camera has a dynamic range of about 8 stops, so that if the scene has more light variation than that, SOMETHING is either going to be blown (overexposed) or blocked (underexposed). The use of reflectors, fill flash, etc., is to reduce the difference between important parts of the image (say, sky and face in shadow), so that both can fit into the 8-stop range and show some detail. In the specific scenario you mentioned, either a good reflector, or fill flash will be needed.
2) Don’t rely on the image on the LCD, it can be very misleading. Go to the view image button, then toggle the display until you see the histogram on that image. Ideally, a well-exposed image will have lots of pixels at the middle, and few or none at the high (right) or low (left) end. What you want to avoid is having lots of pixels jamming up against the right side of the histogram – that is showing you that you’ve got blown highlights which CANNOT be rescued in post-processing. On the other hand, if much of your image is on the left side, then it is underexposed, and boosting the exposure in post will highlight the noise. Assuming the light is not constantly changing (which is when I go with Av instead of manual), use the histogram to get a “good” exposure, then lock it in with the manual setting.
3) Yes, bumping up the Exposure correction will over-expose the “whole picture” but if your kid is darker than the rest of the picture, he’ll come out properly exposed. After all, what’s more important for your image, your kid or the background? That is part of the art of photography, making decisions about what’s important in the image and how to convey that importance.
4) Personally, I use “evaluative” as a good overall meter reading mode, but if I’m faced with a specific lighting situation, I don’t hesitate to change. Don’t think of it as taking an exposure, think of it as building up the image. So rather than pointing at the subject, taking a quick meter reading, and shooting, take the time to “see” the overall image. Where are the darkest spots? Which are the brightest ones? Take spot-meter readings of the darkest, the brightest, and your subject, and then think about how you want to show the image. Let’s say that the brightest part where you want to see some detail comes it at 1/2000 at f/8. Your subject may read, say, 1/250 at f/8, and the darkest part where you still want to see some detail reads at 1/8 at f/8. Assume for the purpose of this exercise that your subject “should” average at 18% grey. Based on this, the highlight is 3 stops above your subject exposure, and the dark part is 5 stops below your exposure. This tells you that if you shoot at the indicated exposure of 1/250 at f/8, your highlights will have detail, but your dark parts will block up. The photographer in you now has to make a esthetic decision – how important is the shadow detail to the image? If it isn’t that important, you can let the exposure stand as is. If it is really important, then you’ll need to adjust the exposure so that the dark parts has at least some detail, and that means about 4 stops. Now your intended exposure becomes 1/125 at f/8. This puts the shadow within 4 stops of your target exposure, it overexposes your subject by one stop and it still allows the highlights to have some detail at 4 stops of overexposure. It seems like a lot of work to work out these exposures, but in fact, once you start analyzing the scenes in terms of their light content and distribution, it becomes rather easy.
5) Going manual works well IF (and it’s a big if) the light in the scene is static. If it is changing all the time, then you’ll have better results (exposure-wise) by using either Av or Tv. I’d be less concerned about the mode, and more concerned about using the histogram to give you instant feedback. But here’s the other gotcha – the histogram shows you the overall scene, not just your subject. So you still have to think about whether your subject’s exposure is in the middle of the exposure range, or off to one or the other side. Let’s say you’re photographing a Caucasian person dressed in black, against a dark background. If you spot meter off the person’s face, you’ll get a “good” exposure. After you take the picture and look at the histogram, you’ll see a whole bunch of pixels on the left (dark), and maybe a little bump at the middle, or a little to the right of the middle. That little bump is the person’s face. Is it properly exposed? If yes, then you’ve done your job. The danger in paying attention to the meter in this case, is that if you set the exposure according to the meter, you’ll have a “well-exposed” image with the majority of pixels in the middle of the histogram, and a few at the very right, but the image will be all wrong because you will have drastically overexposed the image, and the person’s face is part of the pixels squashed on the right side.
In the end, you'll have to get beyond the exposure detail and focus on what you're trying to achieve. There's this whole other area of light that other posters have hinted at. Photography is all about light but also about shadow. Keith was mentioning using light (and shadow) to separate the people in one of your images. This ability to use light to give the image a sense of volume and space can only happen if you've got a good handle on how and where to put the light AND the shadow.

 

[Overread]

Just to add to pgriz's point about the histogram when you get overexposure on the photo when you review a photo on the LCD with the histogram showing you'll see the overexposed areas on the photo blink (white and black) to show you where they are. It won't do this for underexposed, only overexposed - but it gives you a good idea where any overexposure is in the photo itself. This is again a good thing since it can show when its in an important area and where its in a less important area (or where its only a few specks or a massive chunk of the shot).

Also when you go to enable the histogram there are two modes - the brightness and the RGB - for now focus on the brightness version and learn to master using it well during your photography. It's a really simple tool once you get the hang of it, but its also one of the most powerful things that comes with digital shooting.

Furthermore when you review the histogram its best to keep your in-camera editing settings to neutral values. If you start boosting contrast, brightness etc.. in the camera those are applied direct to the JPEG and that is what the camera reads and builds the histogram off. So if you're boosting contrast and other settings in camera that will affect your histogram reading and whereas you might be ok with the exposure the editing might be pushing things over the limit (in the computer this is something you can control through selective editing - but you can't in the camera). Not that this also applies when you are working in RAW mode since the camera makes a JPEG embedded into every RAW shot and it is this JPEG that the camera builds its histogram from and also what is shown when you view shots on the computer before you process the RAW.

 

[DerekSalem]

Well pgriz pretty much nailed any technical info I would have written here but like bigtwinky I have to say...that "experienced" photographer you are talking about mentoring under doesn't appear to be able to teach you a lot about lighting. Most of the shots (the ones I saw, at least) are either not metered correctly, or the focus of the shot was put on something other than the subject (judging by how the lighting was used in the shot). Not to say that he could hurt your ability to take photos, but he might end up giving you advice that is, for all intents and purposes, useless for someone that actually wants to progress in her ability to take well-metered shots.


It's said probably once or twice a day...but you might want to look into getting the book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. It has more examples and exercises than I could possibly list here and all of them are extremely helpful in understanding how to light photos, or more importantly how to use light most effectively (whether natural or flash). This book would help you *immensely* in understanding how to progress in your abilities.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Another good book would be "the hot shoe diaries"

 

[bigtwinky]

I loved the Hot Shoe Diaries the second time I read it. The first time, it wasn't all that great. Once my head was wrapped around the basics, I read the book through again and loved it.

Another speedlite focused book is Speedliter's Handbook by Syl Arena. I'm currently reading it. Alot of basic information in there. I'd say 50% of the book is focused on the Canon system, but the rest is pretty much general theory (with lots of images)

 

[KmH]

I know that spot metering on my camera is still based on the center of the frame. But should I stick with evaluative?

Unfortunately Canon's users manuals suck.

When using spot metering with Nikon cameras, the spot used is concurrent with the selected focus point, so the photographer can move it around in the image frame if desired. Your XSi manual (page 77) doesn't say either way, but you could easily find out by doing a little experimentation.

For portraiture evaluative is the last choice.

Your camera has 4 metering mode choices.

 

[enzodm]

Another good book would be "the hot shoe diaries"

I did not know it. Just bought .

 

[JeffieLove]

I know that spot metering on my camera is still based on the center of the frame. But should I stick with evaluative?

Unfortunately Canon's users manuals suck.

When using spot metering with Nikon cameras, the spot used is concurrent with the selected focus point, so the photographer can move it around in the image frame if desired. Your XSi manual (page 77) doesn't say either way, but you could easily find out by doing a little experimentation.

For portraiture evaluative is the last choice.

Your camera has 4 metering mode choices.

I think I had read somewhere online that spot metering stays in the center of the frame. Can you give me an example of how to set up a test for it though just to be sure?

I know for a focus test you just change the AF point to what you want to use, keep the camera on a tripod and make sure that whatever was in that AF point is in focus... but how would you do it to see if it changes where it meters light?