Using exposure level indicator ?

unpopular · May 17, 2014

Crooked - Really I didn't mean to be insulting, it's just that, as you know there is so much misunderstanding about metering out there. Clearly this isn't the case here.

It's important that you remember to mention that what you are saying is the case if you leave the meter on center weighted, average or are using an incident meter. With spot metering you can place any reference into any zone.

In the case of the second example I would meter off the hilight, placing at Zone VIII and then meter the shadows to ensure the contrast is within latitude, processing accordingly (i.e. the Derrel swing method). The same might go for the first example, but I'd want to make sure the shadows aren't so compressed to require an excessive adjustment and decrease exposure until a 'conservative' contrast adjustment could be used.

The process is basically reverse for film, expose for the shadows process for the hilight, a-la-Adams. I do have a +-N system for raw files but it's not very practical, requires a lot of calibration, a lot of note taking and isn't very useful.

I'm pretty anal about precision. I don't think it makes me a better photography necessarily, but it certainly slows me down a lot. It is pretty impressive that you can do this all from an average reading, some people are just really good at seeing exposure. I'm not.

minicoop1985 · May 18, 2014

Been taking more landscapes with skies that are FAR brighter than the ground. I've been finding that the meter can be fooled by way more than one stop, actually. So yeah, as a basic guide, it's great, but knowing how to spot meter is your friend.

IzzieK · May 18, 2014

stratt0n said:
How many people use exposure level indicator when shooting in manual mode? I use it all the time. But don't really know if it is the correct way to use manual mode. It seems to help . Sorry i was meaning to put this in the beginners section.

I make it a point to use the exposure level indicator all the time too. This is called EV in my mind btw. It really helps. But then I still consider myself a beginner and an amateur on some level so what do I know? I came here to learn too so to me, your question is a very ones.

cookedpixel · May 18, 2014

unpopular said:
Crooked - Really I didn't mean to be insulting, it's just that, as you know there is so much misunderstanding about metering out there.

I understand, and agree. No harm done, we're good as far as I'm concerned. All an in-camera light meter does is give you the exposure for an average reflectance using a specific method (spot, center weighted, evaluative/matrix, etc.). The photographer must understand the metering method being used and if he or she indeed wants an average exposure given the metering method.

unpopular said:
It is pretty impressive that you can do this all from an average reading, some people are just really good at seeing exposure. I'm not.

That skill came from years of using a meterless Leica M3 for my travel photography.

AlanKlein · May 18, 2014

I've been shooting for 50 years. I still make exposure errors especially if shooting in difficult light such as during the "magic" hours. Light changes very quickly then. Most people, if they were to post a contact print of the entire film roll or 50 digital shots, would show plenty of errors in exposure, unless they were shooting during mid-day and there were no light changes. Add filters such as polarizing and contrast for BW film and it gets even more difficult. Even though most of my shots are probably OK with the main exposure estimate, I always bracket just in case. My landscape shots on tripod lends itself to this. I kind of follow Derrel's method but I use a 10% spot on a separate hand held meter. Then I take three readings and average for the initial photo and bracket two more photos at +1 and -1 stop. Works for me.

bratkinson · May 20, 2014

In my varied shooting situations, I oftentimes choose to use shutter speed priority and let the camera figure out the rest. This is especially true if the lighting is changing quickly. I just got back from vacation and took several hundred shots though the window of the train. As the train was continually changing angles relative to the sun, especially in mountainous territory, trying to determine what settings for each shot manually would result in a lot of poorly exposed shots. Instead, my 'absolute' was a shutter speed fast enough to stop my motion on the train, and since I was restricted to use my 135mm lens due to packing the wrong zoom as my 2nd lens, I held my shutter speed to 1/200th.

There were several situations, however, that what the camera figured out would not give the proper exposure. This was especially true during a couple of station stops and I was photographing the people boarding and deboarding the train, and they were in heavy shadows. So, I went to manual and adjusted my ISO and aperture accordingly, and slowed down the shutter speed when I had to. I went by the camera meter to make my choices.

But recognize that the camera meter alone isn't the sole criteria for making my settings. Knowing the exposure triangle is critical. In several shots, especially at night in the station(s), I had to make some critical trade-offs to get the desired exposure levels. In some cases, I cranked the ISO, in others, the aperture, and in others, slowed the shutter down to 1/60th to get what I wanted. No surprise, however, I went through several shots before I got the one I wanted, looking at the images on the LCD to decide if what I wanted was what I got. While there were perhaps 30-40 different combinations of ISO/aperture/shutter speed that would yield the desired results, knowing the various gains and loses for each choice can make the difference of getting a good shot or getting a GREAT shot!

Jusstin · May 21, 2014

As per my experience, You camera must be in one the creative exposure modes to display the exposure level indicator, and when you will select one of these modes and depress the shutter button halfway, you will see a scale that will be represented by a dotted line and marked -2, -1, +1 and +2. Basically this is exposure level indicator and on many other cameras it can be displayed on the top-plate and back LCD panels.