For Newbies - Disregard Your Meter Exercise

[rpcrowe]

This is only for newbies...

I have just thought about this. Perhaps a way to learn about exposure would be to

Don't rely on your camera's built-in meter. Instead, totally disregard it and decide the exposure using your eye and the "exposure meter we should have between our ears"

I learned exposure techniques in the years before I owned an exposure meter and when working with totally manual exposure cameras. In fact, when I attended the Navy Photo School in Pensacola Florida (1958) we never used an exposure meter for any shots...

Note: this should be for testing only. Don't rely on the "meter between your ears" for important shots..

http://www.photoreview.com.au/tips/s...ithout-a-Meter

Google: "Exposure without a meter" will give you links to many more sites with info on that subject!

TIP: if you have a camera with one or more "user selected modes" have one mode set up for Full Automatic exposure and the other mode set up for Manual exposure. In the manual exposure mode - don't look at the camera's meter. Simply try to decide the correct exposure using the "between the ears" meter.

Shoot two exposures every time. One at the full auto setting and the other at the exposure that you have decided upon without the help of a meter. Easy to do with "User Selected Modes"...

View the difference between these exposure modes and the difference in exposures which produced these images.

The reasons I recommend learning how to determine exposure without relying on a meter is that;

IMO (based on my early experience) you can effectively learn exposure that way

AND

If your metered exposure is way off base - you will immediately recognize that and take steps to correct the exposure. In the bright sun of Vietnam, I knew that my base exposure with a motion picture camera was f/11 using my standard Ektachrome Commercial film. I would frequently test my meters (I always carried two meters) and if one read other than f/11 (or thereabouts in the bright sun) I would know that the meter was off...

ANOTHER LEARNING TOOL:

Another learning tool could be Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) which will give you one shot below the metered exposure reading, one shot at the metered exposure reading and on shot above the metered reading.

With Canon DSLR cameras, this is made easy because when in AEB mode and with your camera on burst mode, you will get three bracketed shots every time you press the shutter button. The camera will then stop shooting until the next time you press the shutter button. However, just about any DSLR will allow AEB of some kind.

Using the camera's menu, you can select in which order to have these exposures. I don't recommend the default AEB sequence which starts with a shot at the metered reading. Instead, I recommend starting with less than the meter reading, followed by at the meter reading and then finally, over the meter reading. It might help to make one exposure of your hand or the ground to separate the groups of three bracketed exposures...

It will be easy to view each group of exposures and determine which exposure was correct for that subject/scene. I think that this could be a learning experience for any photographers who are not sure of exposure and an insurance policy for some tricky lighting situiations...

[Black Pearl]

There was a time when I shot film that I could guess the exposure at pretty much any time of the day and even get close indoors most of the time. I suppose I could still get close these days but I've lost the art having used modern metering systems for so long - but - you're bang on Richard its a great exercise to help you learn and see more.

[ionian]

Having only started photography as a serious hobby since digital, this is something I've never had to worry about. In fact my m43 has a histogram displayed permanently so I can not only see if the shot is correctly exposed, I can check for clipping and for highlight/shadow detail before I take the shot.

Having said that, i have to choose exposure when using manual off camera flash - the more I do it, the easier it gets.

[rpcrowe]

"Having said that, i have to choose exposure when using manual off camera flash - the more I do it, the easier it gets."

That is indeed true!

[Manfred M]

Richard - my experience is much the same as yours and Robin's. I can pretty well take a good guess at any exposure and be within a stop. But then, I can do sums and multiplication in my head, hand write notes (although some people suggest I have a medical background when they try to read my scrawl), drive a standard transmission car, etc. None of which are generally that important today.

So the real question to me is does it really matter whether I have this skill or not? If my camera's light meter fails, chances the camera is "dead" and I would not be able to take a picture anyway. With my first film camera, this was definitely NOT the case I as long as I could take a good guess at the exposure, I could just keep on shooting.

So my question is whether this skill is in any way all that important in today's photographic world, and I would suggest the answer is no. Those rules of thumb were okay in their day, but I generally shoot in 1/3 stop increments (because that's how I've set up my camera) I'm getting to a finer degree of exposure than I could ever guess at. I still have to guess, especially when I shoot in snowy winter conditions, where the rules of thumb were never particularly accurate anyway.

My real issue

[Digital]

Richard, remember in the film days, the sunny 16 rule.


Bruce

[rpcrowe]

Manfred writes...

"So my question is whether this skill is in any way all that important in today's photographic world, and I would suggest the answer is no."

I have to differ with you on this. We see many examples of members trying, for some reason, to use manual exposure on this site when they don't have the slightest idea about exposure and are way-way out in left field. I think that they assume good photographers must use manual exposure...

Additionally, we all know that a meter is only a guideline and doesn't give us "carved in granite" exposure rules which must be obeyed. However, if you don't understand exposure, you are at the mercy of following blindly what your meter orders you to shoot at

[Manfred M]

Manfred writes...

"So my question is whether this skill is in any way all that important in today's photographic world, and I would suggest the answer is no."

I have to differ with you on this. We see many examples of members trying, for some reason, to use manual exposure on this site when they don't have the slightest idea about exposure and are way-way out in left field. I think that they assume good photographers must use manual exposure...

Additionally, we all know that a meter is only a guideline and doesn't give us "carved in granite" exposure rules which must be obeyed. However, if you don't understand exposure, you are at the mercy of following blindly what your meter orders you to shoot at

Richard - as an old guy (into my 60s), I know all about shooting manually with and without a light meter; either in camera or handheld. Virtually the only times I ever resort to manually setting my exposure is when I shoot panoramas; I still use a light meter to do the readings, I just determine the best setting after scanning the scene and when I shoot studio flash (or use a Speedight in manual mode). These are all areas of photography that are rather specialized and need some in-depth knowledge on setting the exposure correctly.

Unless I am shooting in a studio setup and my lights are positioned in the same place, I find I still have to meter. I tend to crowd my subjects with the lights (i.e. I set them up so they are at the very edge of the frame), and the drop off is quite dramatic at that range. I simply find I either have to meter these shots or go by trial and error with my histograms, especially in a multi-light setup.

I find that outsmarting the camera's autofocus system and either using a range focus approach (especially in street photography), focusing based on hyperfocal distance (usually for landscape work) or manually focusing for night photography are areas of camera work that are in fact useful in mainstream photography. I find that these are the forgotten skills that really matter and are used in mainstream shooting much more than knowing your exposure settings.

[DanK]

I have to agree with Manfred. I don't think this is a particularly useful exercise for newbies, or for oldies like me either, for that matter.

Additionally, we all know that a meter is only a guideline and doesn't give us "carved in granite" exposure rules which must be obeyed. However, if you don't understand exposure, you are at the mercy of following blindly what your meter orders you to shoot at

Rules like sunny 16 aren't carved in granite either. I agree, one needs to understand exposure, but that is quite different from being able to guess it without a meter. I think newbies are better off learning the principles of exposure and then learning how to use the various metering modes in their camera to deal with a variety of different types of scenes.

[William W]

I taught Photography at College in the 80’s. One of the Field Exercises was to remove the battery from the SLR and for the Students to use that camera as the tool for the afternoon’s shooting. That worked OK, because the SLR’s and Lenses that we were using hand Mechanical Shutter; Mechanical Aperture and Mechanical Film Advance – the battery was just used for the TTL Light Meter. One main purpose of the exercise was to teach the Students how to complete the job with a flat. or no battery.

Today’s digital cameras need a battery to do everything – including power the Camera’s TTL Light Meter – so if the camera is powered to make photos, then so is the TTL Meter available for use, so I agree that if is there - then use it.

But my observations are that so many Photographers simply don’t know the differences between the Metering Modes: and in this regard I agree with Dan’s point.

***

I think that there is a useful purpose for understanding of exposure and within that understanding there is very good reason for having a grasp of estimating the exposure that will be required for any specific outcome.

If a ‘newbie’ is outside in the sun and making a Half Shot Portrait of their friend and the sun is reasonably high; to the front and side of the Subject and the friend is Caucasian and dressed in white and light clothing and the camera computes F/8 @ 1/1000s @ ISO100 . . . then I think it is useful for that 'newbie’ to understand these concepts:

1. The ‘correct’ exposure for the Subject is going to be closer to F/8 @ 1/400s @ ISO100

2. The reason for 1 (above) is: the F/16 Rule

3. Probably the main reason for the camera’s TTL Meter providing the exposure parameters that did, is: the Camera’s TTL Meter assumes that white is Photographic Grey.

WW

[Manfred M]

But my observations are that so many Photographers simply don’t know the differences between the Metering Modes: and in this regard I agree with Dan’s point.

Totally agree Bill, but add to that many photographers do not understand the inherent limitations of a reflective light meter.

[William W]

Totally agree Bill, but add to that many photographers do not understand the inherent limitations of a reflective light meter.

Yes. That is a very good point. I think that is the the next layer down and probably at the root of the general lack of understanding.

Bill