DigitalCamFan
understanding metering
Assigment #2 – Metering off a Gray Card, black
Last week we talked about metering off a gray card when your scene was mostly white. So of course this week we are going to push forward and understand black. So pull out that gray card again!
Learn by Doing!
Take 2 pictures one with a gray card and one without. If you don’t have a gray card use anything in the house that is a middle gray like a gray pillow a gray jacket etc.
Picture 1 – Make sure your scene is mostly black. Turn your camera to manual Take the picture according to what your camera meter sees as a perfectly exposed picture.
Picture 2 – Put your gray card in front of your picture, adjust your exposure until it is on the 0. When you move your gray card out of the picture your meter will tell you this is the wrong exposure. Going ahead and take the picture, but don’t change your meter.
Here is a picture I took of my son’s DSi case. The one on the left is metered to the camera exposure which looks more gray than black. The one on the right is metered off a gray card and definitely looks black.
A little bit about our meter:
Our camera is deigned to render subjects middle gray or 18%. Black reflects approximately 9% so the camera over exposes trying to make your picture middle gray (18%) I try to remember this saying when I have a scene that is mostly black – add dark to dark! Since the camera is going to over expose we need to adjust accordingly. The opposite is true for white, since the camera is going to underexpose we need to add light to light.
Here is the picture I took last week that shows all three colors. White, gray and black. When I zoomed in on the individual colors they all took on a gray color because our camera sees in neutral gray. This is starting to sink in as I keep doing these experiments. Our camera does not see in color or in black and white but rather a neutral gray.
Assignment #1 – Metering off a Gray Card
Assignment #1 – Take a 2 pictures one with a gray card and one without. If you don’t have a gray card use anything you have that is middle gray could be a gray shirt or just a gray piece of paper.
Picture 1. Find something where your entire scene is more white than anything else could be snow, bed spread zoom in on a white dress. Turn your camera to manual and expose correctly. This is what your camera sees.
Picture 2. Hold your gray card in front of your scene turn your camera to spot meter if you don’t have that use partial meter. Meter off the gray card. Remove the gray card from the picture. Now don’t change your exposure even though it has a different reading and take the picture.
I wrote a post about how to meter in manual if you want to take a peek!
Here is the picture I came up with in my backyard using snow well what little bit of snow we have right now!
A little bit about our meter:
Our camera is designed to render subjects middle gray or 18%. Most pictures tend to be average if you’re at the park with grass, trees, kids running around in different clothes. This would create a very average scene in your camera. Now if you put a black cat on a black chair your camera will overexpose to make your subject gray. Just the opposite if you have a scene of just white snow your camera will underexpose making your snow look gray.
Meters still confuse me and I have to think what the heck am I suppose to do! Here is an example I took of three colors white, gray and black on aperture priority. I let the camera meter decide what it was going to see. The first picture with all three colors you can tell there are three colors. But when I zoomed in on the picture so it just showed the white black or gray they all just took on a different shade a gray. The camera thought way too white need to adjust, or way too black need to adjust the only one that felt just right was the gray itself.
—
Subscription Options:
Categories
Photos on flickr
Tags
© 2012 DigitalCamFan. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by WordPress. Designed by 