Feiertag Loc: British Columbia, Canada

I have not photographed a snow storm or use automatic but thanks for asking, Jeff.

blackest Loc: Ireland

As a general rule metering something at 18% gray places 2 tones above and 2 tones below correctly with detail. Sometimes you want detail in higher tones or lower and you don't care whats at middle gray in which case you apply exposure compensation e.g if says 1/500th for the gray tone then 1/1000th will make it underexposed a tone and there will be detail in the three tones above that rather than 2 if you go another stop to 1/2000th you get detail 4 tones above middle gray. Normally thats enough. But if its not you can meter the brightest highlight you want detail in. Remember the camera thinks that is middle gray and will select an exposure which gives detail in the 2 tones higher than that but since you are metering the brightest tone already there is nothing there. say the meter suggests 1/1000th then you want to under expose by 2 tones 1/2000th 1/4000th and now should have an optimal exposure.

Feiertag Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Thank you for your interesting comment, blackest.
Harold

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Like others here I am surprised after looking at your images that you are trying to figure out why we do not have exposure meters that meter at 0%. All the images I have seen are perfectly exposed and with beautiful colors and full of details. That only happens when a photographer has the experience and obviously, knows how to use an exposure meter.

I NEVER had any issues understanding the 18% concept. Modern terminology, as I am sure you know, calls that 18% MIDDLE TONALITY. Middle tonality is not black or white but in between. I know you are well aware of this but there are many others that are not, reason why I am explaining the facts here.

In my humble opinion having what is called an "average reading" exposure meters gives us a reference that has proven over the years to be a useful one. Knowing that reference we can make changes to the reading to come to the correct exposure. It is obvious that if we do not want an object which is white to be gray we have to open the aperture in the lens to make it bright again. Simply said we are modifying the exposure.

An incident exposure meter places the reading in the ballpark, not meaning that the reading is always accurate. Bright light requires to close a bit from an incident meter reading. Even a gray card will produce a better exposure if we close a bit for bright objects.

Where I find most useful the "average reading" of an exposure meter is when I use spot metering. Because the reading is so precise I know that the exposure for the subject I read from will be very accurate. Using compensation for the exposure is already second nature to me since I have been using center weighted and spot metering for so many years and no pun intended.

Some of the members here have mentioned metering from the hand. Today I rarely do that but the Caucasian skin, like that of the palm of the hand is BRIGHTER than middle tonality so if we meter from the palm of the hand we have to open 1 stop of light and the result will be identical to metering with an incident exposure meter or from a gray card. We can always use another substitute reading from a nearby subject of middle tonality in the same light and use the reading to expose our subject.

I know you are familiar with all this and I just made comments about metering to help many newbies to understand the principles involved using an exposure meter. Matrix or evaluative metering is a sophisticated computerized metering modality. It fails many times and we never know what the meter is doing. Fortunately with digital shooting we have the histogram that allows us to make sure we have the correct exposure.
To me being in control is what really matters.

toxdoc42

I had a personal experience "in the field" with this. I had my Nikon D3400 set for auto white balance in St Marc's square in Venice. The brick buildings ended up intensely red, fire engine red. Luckily it was obvious on the display. I then used my Expodisc 2 to set the white balance an voila, everything looked fine!

Snoopypood

When film was first being invented, it was slow - ASA (now ISO) of about 0.6. Light has 256 shades of gray ranging from 0 to 255 non-descriptive monochromatic units. Before light meters, photographers looked for something that was between total black and total white. Without going into the history and development of light meters, the between "pure black and pure white" subject was viewed through smoked (literally) ND type filters and the darkest shade of visible light that could be seen was the correct exposure. As things developed, it was determined that this "proper exposure" was 18% lighter than black on the smoked filters which was actually about 46% lighter than pure black on the scale. This became the standard and as film speed increased, the use of this measurement was in effect and it was the way that film speed numbers were assigned. In the mid-1960's metering became part of a camera and up until then, you either used the chart that came with the film or used a hand held meter. Computerized cameras, both digital and film use an algorithm to calculate this average 18% exposure but can be easily fooled. I still use a hand held incident light meter when shooting extreme wide angle or multi-shaded subjects. Many of these scenes have such a range of brightness that even the most sophisticated TTL system's averaging will be inaccurate. As one writer stated they simply metered off of their hand. A good tip but since your hand is about 36%, be sure to open the lens 1 stop. Although cameras can do the thinking for you, the more you know about what it's doing, the better you will be at correcting the camera to make it do what you want it to do.

Feiertag Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Thank you for the compliment and informative post. I do have a basic knowledge on the subject and make the meter adjustment as required. I thought it would be more convenient if a lower than %18 was offered. Just a thought. Cheers.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I'm not so sure about 18% Grey or Middle Grey being Kodak's invention. Though their engineers would certainly be aware of it. Also I think 0% reluctance would be Black not White. Remember some things in photography are a geometric or exponential progression: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32; and not linear: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. The curious question is why not 50% Grey?

But the entire question of metering and exposure would be a lot clearer if everyone (here) first read Ansel Adams' "The Negative". A bit dated and about film of course but the fundamental concepts are well laid out! I've read both of his series of instructional books decades ago.

MCHUGH Loc: Jacksonville, Texas

Many years ago when I was in business I ask this question of one of the old time photographers that was in a camera club I was a member of and he had been a long time pro. He told me that back when Kodak was determining the proper rendering on greys in their b&w film that white skin created 18% gray and since most people in that time period that took photographs were white people they used this to create film that created the best photo of the full range of tones in a b&w photo so the users of their film would be happy. This is what bobric said in his comment in his post to this question. I brought up a b&w of a portrait of a white lady I had taken and checked the RBG of the gray making the image and it was in 18% range. I use the 18% gray card often when taking photos especially on commercial jobs and always got very good and accurate color.

bcrawf

A meter reading of a scene (an "average" one, heh heh) tells the camera how to expose to get the scene's light parts, dark parts and the rest to average out to the middle of the light-dark scale (called the gray scale -- think of it in black and white), which is 18% in tonal value. Now, when you photograph a black cat in a coal bin or an Arctic Hare in a snowdrift, you don't want the result to come out medium gray (i.e., the middle of the lightness scale), so you must apply some visual thinking (and adjust the exposure).

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

18% gray cards have always puzzled me. The number is the percent of incident light reflected, what is magic about 18? Looking out on any scene whatever so percentage of incident light will be reflected. In film days exposure caused silver bromide to dissociate leaving silver atoms. After developement the silver was responsible for the film to have an opacity, variable across the dimensions of the frame. How was 18% important to that? In a brightly lit snowy winter scene would 18% make for gray snow. What about the gayly, garishly colored Marde Gras scene - why 18%. I could go on and on, may I be excused for ignoring 18% card.

oregon don

shooting sled dog races in Anchorage I used the back of my hand,worked perfect.

using Kodachrome.

pappleg

The 18% gray card has it's basis in B&W film photography and primarily portraiture as it most often represented average skin tones which if one used the "Zone System" as utilized by Ansel Adams and others also approximated zone VI (6). Most portraitists used incident meters from the subjects viewpoint to judge proper exposure by the light falling on the subject. If one only had a reflected meter (as in most of todays' cameras) you would "meter" the 18% gray card to get proper exposure for caucasian skin tone.

Pat

htbrown Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

The problem with choosing black or white as a metering point is that each is open-ended. Past some brightness, everything is white. Past some darkness, everything is black. 18% was chosen because a scene metered as if it is 18% gray generally gives a usable range of values in the negative. It is also near the midpoint in perception. (Our eyes, and film, see brightness in a power series, not linearly.)

If you're unhappy with the range of values you are getting, change how you meter. Try spot metering, for example., and learn about the zone system.

A camera can see 8 to 12 stops of light between black and white. A human eye can see a greater range, and a sunlit natural scene will generally present an even wider dynamic range. Part of the craft of photography is figuring out how to fit the range of light before us into the limited range our devices can see.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

I guess it's a common point that the industry uses so we are all in the same boat. As ASA now ISO (the same). Who named RED --red?