Understanding Metering help please?

[Tyguy35]

Hey, I was just wondering about metering. I have always used matrix metering, I only shoot landscape and wildlife am I better off to shoot spot metering when shooting birds and other wildlife then matrix for landscapes? I dont understand how the rest of the frame works does the camera auto meter the rest?
I always seems to never get the right exposure either to dark or to bright doing my best to get this right I believe once I fully understand metering I can hopefully get a better look at the rest of the settings. I also have been only shooting on manual for the best practice. For some reason I will shoot a great photo when I absolutely need it not professional but good enough for example my hawk photo. I also shoot at a higher ISO to get a perfect exposure because I am shooting at such a high shutter speed to get the birds in flight usually 2000 iso and 2000 shutter f5.6. Any suggestions sorry that I am all over the place.

Thanks

 

[kathyt]

For me, metering is very situational. There is no right or wrong way for every situation. It just depends on what you are shooting, when you are shooting it, and what you want your final outcome to be. I use spot metering mostly because I shoot people. For landscapes I would choose differently.

 

[Tyguy35]

Thank you you are right all situations are different

 

[KmH]

Page 105 of the D7000 User's Manual explains the 3 metering modes and explains what shooting situations are appropriate for each.

A broader understanding of metering will also help.
Like knowing that the in-camera meter is calibrated based on the assumption all scenes have an average reflectance equal to 125 to 18% gray.
And like knowing that in-camera light meters can only meter reflected light. In some photography situations it is very helpful to meter incident of strobe light, which in-camera light meters cannot do.

A big advantage Nikon DSLR owners get is that Nikon metering sensors are color-aware. Most Canon DSLR metering sensors are not color-aware.