Reading Understanding Exposoure and I have a question!

[sarasphotos]

Ok so i'm reading understanding exposure and it is GREAT!! But, on page 14 of the 3rd edition, it gives an a "assignment". It says to set aperature at 5.6 regardless of lens and surroundings. Then it says change shutter speed according to the light meter and to put the shutter speed at the speed that reads a "correct" meter reading....How do you know the meter is correct? Would it be in the middle on 0??

 

[dhaval]

yup!

 

[KmH]

And then you can change the metering mode and see how that effects what winds up being a correct shutter speed.

With spot mode, it will be highly dependent on what part of the scene you meter.

 

[sarasphotos]

ok I thought so!!! I went outside and used my hubby as practice lol and here is what happened

This was obvioulsy taken at the wrong "meter" reading and wrong shutter speed and with a 18-55mm Nikkor VR lens at f/5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/80 ISO 400 at 55mm WB Auto:

This one was taken correctly! The only thing I would have done different is have the wb on cloudy. Here is the settings for this one: shutter 1/500 f/5.6 ISO 400 WB Auto at 55mm:

 

[gsgary]

And then don't forget you need a fast enough shutter speed for your focal length to stop camera shake does he tell you that

 

[sarasphotos]

How do you get a correct meter reading indoors?? I can't seem to do anything to get it at 0! HELP

 

[dhaval]

If it always says it's too low, then there might not be enough light. You can try increasing the ISO.

 

[dhaval]

And in the pics you posted above. It depends on what you're trying to expose correctly to. In your first pic it looks the subject is overexposed but the rest of the pic looks correctly exposed. In your second pic, it looks like everything is underexposed by a bit.

 

[sarasphotos]

so basically even though my camera is saying it is exposed correctly it really may not be?? i'm a little confused...

 

[sarasphotos]

and the second pic is the correct color, it looks just like it would if you were looking without the camera. It is a really cloudy day Thats why I said I should have set my WB to cloudy and maybe my camera to vivid not standard. But hey thats what PP is for right??

Here is what a little bit of pp can do It helped brighten it up a lot! What i'm trying to learn to do is take pics without having to do a lot of pp and this only took 20 seconds! I think i'm getting close to my goal! I have a long way to go and a lot more to learn but hey any improvment is something to be proud of!

 

[Josh66]

so basically even though my camera is saying it is exposed correctly it really may not be?? i'm a little confused...

Yes... OK, on the second one - it looks a little dark, maybe a stop underexposed. It all depends on what you meter.

I don't know what mode that one was on, but it probably doesn't matter much, as his (white) shirts fills a lot of the frame.

If you zero the meter out on a white subject, you will get underexposure. What would have worked better in this case would be to meter on his shirt, but set it so that it reads +1 or so. Or zero it out on a gray card.

 

[gsgary]

How do you get a correct meter reading indoors?? I can't seem to do anything to get it at 0! HELP

If you are using the kit lens it wont be fast enough unless you use a very high ISO (1600)

 

[sarasphotos]

ok that makes sence! Do I need to change my metering to something other than matrix?

 

[gsgary]

ok that makes sence! Do I need to change my metering to something other than matrix?

I don't know how the Nikon metering works

 

[mitchallenphoto]

I would either meter off his white shirt and go 2 stops brighter than 0 or meter off his face(forehead) and go 1 stop brighter than 0. see where that puts you and adjust from there.