Metering modes in digital photography
Metering – is the way that a DLSR camera measures the light in front of it in order to decide the settings for a correct exposure. Not sure how it does it, but all DLSR cameras have the ability to measure the distance to the subject and the brightness. after reading this information a camera will choose the settings depending on the mode in order to produce a result as close to the reality as possible.
we have 4 choices:
1. Spot metering mode
the camera will consider one small spot in the middle of the image, where the focus point is. It will measure a small amount of the image and ignore the rest of the image.
this mode is useful when the subject is in contrast with the rest of the image. In spot metering mode you are able to focus on the subject, and expose only for the subject, assuming it is small in the image.
In the image above the focus is on the dummy head. The camera will measure the lighting level , as you can see the subject is a significant contrast with the background which is in shade. By half pressing the shutter button in spot metering mode, the camera will measure the brightness only on the subject and it will expose accordingly, leaving the background underexposed
In the image above, the subject is the background itslef and as you can see the dummy head is overexposed as it is no longer our subject.
this is the best example when to use the spot metering mode, when the subject is contrast with the rest of the scene. It can be also the other way, subject being darker than the background, and the result would have been the opposite – the backgrounds would have become overexposed
2. Partial mode
Following the same principle as the spot mode, the partial mode is just a bigger spot in the picture. depending on the size of the subject in your image, you might want to consider this choice.
3. Centre- weighted mode
as in the image above, in this mode, the camera will take an average measurement in the scene as per the diagram. it will not have a clear demarcation but a variable area from the centre fading out to the sides
4. Evaluative mode
this is a good choice when there is not much contrast in the scene and the subject brightness level is not very different with the background
In the fully manual mode , the metering mode is not important, regardless what the camera reads in front of it, you will enforce you choices of the the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings. However in time priority and aperture priority modes it is important to have the correct metering depending on your intention to expose for the subject or for the whole scene is applicable.
Exercise
as an exercise we are suggesting you find a scene where there is a significant contrast between the subject and the rest of the image and play with all metering modes without changing the shooting mode, until you are confident of the results, you will notice a slight difference in the camera settings for each.
In conclusion, it is important to be aware of the metering method, however if you are doing post production in any shape or form, it is very easy to change the exposure settings after, if the image is not correctly exposed.
feel free to share any results of your exercise and pose any questions on the topic above
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