metering

[rpcrowe]

Jim Nieger of Kissimee Florida has posted some very detailed information about bird photography...

This is well worth perusing...

http://www.digitalbirdphotography.com/contents.html

[Colin Southern]

Jim Nieger of Kissimee Florida has posted some very detailed information about bird photography...

This is well worth perusing...

http://www.digitalbirdphotography.com/contents.html

I just has a look at the relevant part of his (very extensive) articles -- and a few things came to mind

- Judging by his agreement with a colleagues quote along the lines of "the meter being the most useless part of the camera" and other clues in his article, I suspect that even someone who is as accomplished as he is probably doesn't fully understand how it works. Don't get me wrong - anyone who can produce that body of knowledge and those images obviously knows more than just a thing or two, but from what he wrote it none-the-less suggests to me that some of the process isn't clearly understood.

- From what he said, it seems that bird photographers are split on the best metering mode to use; in light of what we're discussing, I think it's important to draw a distinction between BIF ("Birds in FLIGHT") and just "normal" bird photography (nesting, scavenging etc). With the former you're literally shooting at a moving target whereas with the latter, you've got a far easier job trying to spot meter.

In any situation where the bird wasn't moving I too would be tempted to consider spot metering; spot metering + a quick guesstimate at whether the bird was lighter or darker then middle gray (along with a quick EC) would almost certainly get an exposure that's pretty close to spot on.

If it were easy folks, then everyone would be doing it well!

[ajohnw]

Colin makes some good points but I feel something needs stressing about spot metering and to do that it's best to use the zone system I linked to as it clearly shows what mid grey really is. The zone system is shown as consisting of 10 EV value steps from black to white. I EV value being 1 stop being a factor 2 change in exposure time up or down. Zone 5 is mid grey. A spot meter will attempt to set an exposure at any light level that will result in the area under the spot being recorded at that tone level. It won't matter if it's black, white or pink with green spots on it. Any colour arrangement will come out mid grey. Black is black because it reflects less light than white. Colours are colours because objects reflect that colour of light. The meter just records light levels so mid grey can be mid any colour.

It's worth people reading the wiki zone system article because the results from taking a digital shot to actually viewing an image aren't all that different to film which is when the zone system was developed. Exactly the same problems occur using digital. Actually accounting for films over exposure tolerance I often think digital has more of a problem. Over expose that and the info is gone. Nothing will get it back. Here's the link again. This is basically what exposure compensation is about

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_System

I feel little has changed other than due to PP the texture tones can be pushed further out except possibly at the dark end. The fact that full black and full white aren't captured means that PP can enhance detail. Only problem is finding items that fit in to shoot - or using levels adjustments to make room for enhancement which will distort the entire tonal range = more work.

I suspect it comes as a surprise to many just how bad a cameras exposure system can be. Part of that really is down to the dynamic ranges sensors can actually capture against the dynamic ranges we point the camera at. Also problems at the dark end of things. It's interesting to read what Nikon think about it

http://imaging.nikon.com/history/scenes/14/index.htm

The bird shooting link seems to be pretty good as far as I can see on metering modes - exposure compensation is mentioned. Also that matrix type metering is likely to give a decent exposure if the bird fills the view. Problems increase as they get smaller in the view.

One of the odd things about mid grey is that sometimes 18% grey is mentioned.

John
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[Omer]

Thanks Colin, Christina and everyone else. Thanks Izzie for clearing that out. Metering is kind of like the 4th pillar of photography other then aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I need to understand it more and practice it more. I have never tried EC as Colin mentioned it. I'll read up on these things and take some photos before going to work tomorrow morning and then I will tell you all how things went.

[Manfred M]

Judging by his agreement with a colleagues quote along the lines of "the meter being the most useless part of the camera" and other clues in his article, I suspect that even someone who is as accomplished as he is probably doesn't fully understand how it works.

Colin - the same can be said about a lot of things. I'm quite sure that most people who drive cars don't know how they work either, and that does not mean they are better or worse drivers than the ones that do. What it does mean is that they use their understanding as to how they work and will modify their behaviour accordingly. I'm not saying that is an advantage or disadvantage, it's just the way things seem to work. I personally suspect it is an advantage, and having more knoweledge about how things work will probably give the user an edge over someone who does not have this knowledge.

By extension; one can make the same comment about the photographer that does not understand light meters; he has found a way to work around that limitation. My guess, this has come at a cost of missed shots, but not everyone will likely agree...