sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

Not on a regular basis. Should use it more though. Lol invaluable for indoors.

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

I use a Minolta Flashmeter VI and a Minolta Color Meter mostly, but have a couple of spot meters just to be sure. As DSLRs and digital cinema cameras extend past film sensitivity, my old Zone System sticker on one of the spot meters is less relevant.

In the movies, you often light back to front, and from the outset, you light to a predetermined exposure. The same applies to the stills studio.

Then there is the great outdoors, where you can control mother nature a bunch of different ways.

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

recently, I've learned about the zone system for metering and getting the right exposure regardless of contrast conditions. Using the spot meter on your camera zoom in and meter on something neutral.. lighter blue, red, orange green average blue sky, red brick wall, darker grass and in manual mode adjust your shutter speed and f stop so that it has 0 on the meter. If you can't find something neutral use a pastel color, light blue sky pink yellow very light red (light toned flowers) etc and set your exposure so your meter reads +1. If you are in high contrast with very bright meter on a highlight and set to +1.75 or up to 2 (also check your darks to ensure they are no less then -2. As long as you are shooting in that same lighting condition your exposures of everything else will be right on... even though your camera meter might indicate otherwise. (YOU STAY IN MANUAL and don't deviate the settings. If you change position, direction etc. you will need to re meter.. Oh and if you can't find anything to meter on zoom in on the palm of your hand and set to +1.. Learned this at a rocky mountain school of photography class it comes from Ansel Adams and has been modified for digital cameras....

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

recently, I've learned about the zone system for metering and getting the right exposure regardless of contrast conditions. Using the spot meter on your camera zoom in and meter on something neutral.. lighter blue, red, orange green average blue sky, red brick wall, darker grass and in manual mode adjust your shutter speed and f stop so that it has 0 on the meter. If you can't find something neutral use a pastel color, light blue sky pink yellow very light red (light toned flowers) etc and set your exposure so your meter reads +1. If you are in high contrast with very bright meter on a highlight and set to +1.75 or up to 2 (also check your darks to ensure they are no less then -2. As long as you are shooting in that same lighting condition your exposures of everything else will be right on... even though your camera meter might indicate otherwise. (YOU STAY IN MANUAL and don't deviate the settings. If you change position, direction etc. you will need to re meter.. Oh and if you can't find anything to meter on zoom in on the palm of your hand and set to +1.. Learned this at a rocky mountain school of photography class it comes from Ansel Adams and has been modified for digital cameras....

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

I recently learned how to use the zone system and it works really well. You use your camera in manual. You spot meter on a known exposure such as a nuetral averge tonality (gray card, lighter blue, red orange green, average bluse sky, red brick wall, darker grass, leaves and set your shutter and f stop so that the camera reads zero and then leave it and shoot away. If you change positions or directions you will need to reset. If you can't find a nuetral then go to a pastel or the palm of your hand and set your exposure so the camera reads +1... really strong highlights? meter on a highlight and set your camera so the exposure reads between +1.75 to 2. You can also check your darks to ensure they are no less than -2, anything less than -2 will be black with no detail

Kristoes

Excellent, concise, well thought out answer!!

Kristoes

I don't want to stray off topic since she doesn't have HDR (I do), but you brought up something I've been puzzled about. A professional photographer friend advised me to make sure the new camera I was in the process of purchasing recently had HDR. I did so, but to me it looks exactly like bracketing. Now, reading your response makes me think otherwise. Isn't HDR the same system I'm familiar with on my iPhone?

BTW, I'm doing a project with an extreme exposure range.
Thanks

amehta Loc: Boston

I think you will get better answers if you please post your own topic, so the "HDR experts" will know to respond, while they may not notice your question here. Then you will also be able to direct the conversation about HDR in a way that suits your goals. Thanks. :-)

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Well, I wasn't going to chime in here but I will.

The way a person meters has no bearing on the dynamic range of the scene...the same decision must be made (where to "place" the exposure) and the camera cannot capture it all so the advice to allow it to make the decision on where to place the exposure is misguided...it's always striving for the same thing...to make everything "middle grey"


The fact is..no matter HOW a person meters..deciding if the scene's shadow areas need to be raised to close up the dynamic range, or deciding to allow the shadows to underexpose, or deciding to let the highlights blow out and expose the shadows, or whatever type of shot you choose...the camera's meter will be no better (and frequently worse) at this...it has no idea what YOU are looking to achieve...only YOU know that.

So...I guess what I'm saying is that if you point your camera at a scene with a dynamic range that exceeds the camera's "single shot" envelope, using the camera's meter won't change that or fix it...or even be the best choice...

for ME (and this is just me) using the camera's meter is like having a steering wheel on the passenger side of the car...you always have to be glancing over to see if anyone is about to yank the wheel...you have to chimp to check to see if the wheel got yanked after you took the shot...or if you get to post, you have to fix in lightroom because the meter didn't choose well...

I find it easier to use an incident meter or pre-meter with my hand or green grass etc...

But that's just me...YMMV....

Kristoes

Right, sorry. Thanks for that. I'm still new as this is my first forum experience, amazingly helpful! I'll post a new topic.
Thanks

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

HDR takes 3 or more bracketed pictures, exposing for darks, normal, highlights and then merges the results into a single picture thus increasing the effective dynamic range. You can do this (depending on the camera)... in the camera or via pp ie photoshop to blend the 3 or more photos. My camera does in camera hdr, but only in jpg not raw. DRO is something similar where the camera will determine a high lighting differential between highlights and shadows, expose for the highlights and then lighten (add detail) to the shadows. My camera will do dro in raw and allows you to vary the aggressiveness of the processing.

amehta Loc: Boston

It might help if you are more specific about the "camera's meter". Most DSLRs today have both evaluative and spot metering. With spot metering, the camera is looking at exactly what you tell it to look at, and I don't see that as being any different than a light meter in spot meter or reflective mode. And the current evaluative meters are often very effective, and if the light is changing, they allow for a high percentage of accurate exposures. The key, in the end, is that any metering method is a tool, the photographer has to know if the tool will work in the situation at hand.

Blaster6 Loc: Central PA

Well, yes... pretty much.

When bracketing, you get 3 or more photos. In HDR the camera takes 3 or more photos and processes them to spit out 1 photo that is the result of the 3 merged photos.

HDR in camera just means the camera does the work for you. If you don't have that feature you can still bracket multiple shots and merge them with software.

amehta Loc: Boston

No need to apologize. I think you will get a lot of assistance for your project.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

got it...I was just speaking of reflective metering of camera's in general as opposed to "incident" meters where the reflectively of the subject doesn't affect anything.



It's not, but I wasn't clear enough to make sure I was clear about referring to incident vs reflective issues.




agreed...and that was partly my point...