A simple way to master camera metering
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- Опубліковано 11 гру 2024
- In this video I discuss my simple but effective process for learning how to use your metering modes.
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You're such a humble and down to earth photographer. Listen to you is like paying attention to a friend explaining what he knows about any given topic. One more thing that I like about your videos is that you don't engage in this nonsense war between brands like "Canon versus Nikon". You actually have used them both and can tell us objectively the strong points and the weakness of each system.
Hi Martin! Another EXCELLENT video, thank you so much!
Thanks Martin for all the great videos that you are making! It’s really something different with your experience and hands-on approach. I’ve been shooting as a hobbyist for more than 5 years now, and yet you have opened my eyes on some basic things, in a way, keep it simple. Thank you!
Practice practice practice, thanks for confirming and also pointing out some misconceptions
I truthfully appreciate this video so much. I always wondered if I was doing something wrong, but come to find out, I am just out of practice lol.
Thank you Martin for this video. A long time ago I learned this while shooting on slide film.
I always feel Martin tells it as it is - not just producing a video for the sake of content..!
That makes sense. Thank you, sir!
Thankx for another great video ! Get to know your gear is key indeed. Practicing really helps so much. It's one thing to read something and another thing to actually do it and experience it. Easier to remember.
Thank you Martin, great video. I would love to see a video with images and explanations using examples. I'm new to photography and English is not my first language, so this would be really helpful.
Learning your camera and practicing is solid advice. Stick with manual mode. Once you learn it, you will get solid, repeatable results. Almost one year in on owning my 5D MKII, and I have been getting amazing shots using this strategy. It is not eaay, but worth the initial struggles.
Absolutely great to learn manual mode and fully understand it. But to stick with it thinking this is the absolute best way to get the best results is just not true. You get the best results by the way that works for you once you learn the basics of photography.
Very useful, thanks Martin, much appreciated.
Quick Q for maybe a future Q&A please?
Lots of people talk about that lovely Canon colour science, but this applies to OOC jpeg’s only? If I shoot raw, then the colours are dependent on the raw converter and processing software? Even my monitor settings, Colour space, etc? Lots of variables.
How can I know I am actually witnessing those lovely real Canon colours?
Sorry I know it’s a noob question, but I got a 6D a few months back (loving it) and I am trying to learn it seriously and studiously. It’s a new hobby for my retirement. Many thanks!
There will be difference in how raw files respond to changes. I have 6d and I also have a fun little sony a57, and the way a57 raw file responds when moving sliders in lightroom is good bit different than how 6d file will respond. It's usually less work to get skin color right on canon 6d (usually just color temp and tint change), while on a57 I always have to also dial down or shift red/purple/magenta in color mixer especially if a subject has a lot of tiny surface veins on their face.
@@1906aldo Thank you, that is very helpful.
Zone system? Learn to see zone 7 (white with detail) or zone 3 (Black with detail) and adjust up or down 2 stops or whatever is needed. No need to look at the back of the LCD once you learn to see.
I've always assumed that matrix metering simply added up all the pixels in a scene and averaged them but after looking into it a bit more it's a bit more complex than that. It typically divides the frame into several zones then analyses each zone for brightness., colour, contrast and sometimes focus distance then compares the data to a database of typical scene patterns then uses that info to determine the exposure. It usually gives more weight to the centre of the frame and the area where the camera is focusing. So it makes sense what you were saying about different cameras interpreting scenes slightly differently.
Great advice as always, thanks!
Thanks Martin, another really helpful video.
Glad it was helpful!
Interesting, thanks Martin!!
Video starts at 01:08
Thanks, as always, for your content and efforts. Can I suggest a different topic to simplify? Actually, 2 intertwined concepts? 1: Color space (I'll add more down below). 2. Bit-depth. Here's why. Friends and I talk photography a bunch and we are all amateurs. This topic came up this week. 1. Does it make any difference (setting your camera to sRGB or Adobe (a) RGB if a). You shoot RAW, b) your monitor doesn't display it, and c) you upload your images to social media, bur rarely print. Of course there are lots of permutations here (i.e. does it make sense to edit in photoshop in aRBG if your monitor doesn't display it? And so even if printing, is it doing you any good to edit in a larger colorspace. When you supply clients with your work, what did you use? To point 2. At what point does using 14-bit depth over 12 make sense? I have heard the argument that if you shoot at higher ISOs, it really doesn't matter. As a last topic, and aside, Photoshop can work in the "calculated" 16-bit depth. What's going on here and why use it? ;-) Thank you Martin. I'm sure I'm not the only one with this question. I often wonder what photographers that supply photos to SI (Sports Ill), Glamour, etc. are asked to use.
Damn, there is just no getting away from homework in photography! Here is a really daft question: exposure compensation has no consequence if you're in manual mode (unless auto eyesso 😅). But what about metering (obviously it affects the exposure gauge in the optical view finder)? Doesn't it also affect AF?
Do you ever use the Live Histogram and adjust for proper exposure?
Yes I have a video on that too
For me, metering these days is done with the old fashioned centre weight (or spot). But if you read how it works, it sounds complicated with 80% of the meter's weight in the centre circle and 20% outside and... - what??? But let me explain how I do it.
I got myself a pack of a trio of those cheap grey cards from Amazon. You know with a white card, a middle grey card, and a black card. These are very useful, and I highly recommend to get some if you don't already have, but not for how people tend to use them.
Your meter meters for middle grey. In those grey cards, that will be the middle grey card (technically called 18% grey). The white card will be two stops above that middle grey (technically 90%). The black card will be two stops under that middle grey.
Now, most people use those cards to actually meter the light. But that is not how I use them. Instead, I keep them in my camera bag and look at them often. I make a mental image of just how grey that middle grey card really is. When I go to take a picture, I ask myself if the scene that I am about to take is above that middle grey card. If it is, I know I have to overexpose the meter reading. And if the scene looks darker than that middle grey card, I know I have to underexpose the scene.
So if I think the scene is about half way between grey and white, I over expose by a stop. If it is only a little over middle gray, I will over expose by perhaps 1/3 or 2/3 stop.
If the scene is nearly white, or has a white wall or white dress, expose that dress by +2 stops and it will come out white (provided white balance is set correctly).
At night or at dusk when things are much darker, you will want to underexpose by one or two stops depending on the scene. Use the black card as a guide to how much between the grey card and the black card the scene really is. This will guide how much you need to underexpose the meter reading.
So I use the cards primarily as a mental anchor to remind me of what middle grey looks like, so that I can compensate my exposures accordingly when I take a shot.
It is useful to also learn where certain colours should appear. So I find white skin (Caucasian) should be exposed at +2/3 stop. Green grass is about 0 stops. Blue sky about +1 1/3 to +1 2/3. The palm of my hand (as a quick proxy for the card) is at +2/3 stop. Flowers come out beautiful when exposed at about +1 1/3 stop. Over time you will build up a mental database of useful exposure points. When you have a known exposure point, you can just spot meter off that instead of using the centre weight metering mode.
Also, it is useful to "swing the camera around a bit". I'm not sure this is a technical thing, but if you scan the scene with your camera's meter, you will see the meter go up and down. You can use this to gauge where middle grey should be, and hence your exposure. The light bits of your scene where you want detail should not go above +2 or they will be blown out. Similarly, any dark bits that are darker than -2 stops would likely be too dark without some post processing to brighten them up. By swinging your camera around a bit, you can get a sense of the metering of that scene. With practice you will understand where things should be exposed, and you won't need to swing the camera around again.
This is how I deal with exposure. The more you practice the better you get at guessing how much under/over exposure a scene needs. A useful exercise is to go out with your camera with the intention of not getting any particularly good pictures, but instead to go intentionally looking for complicated lighting situations to take a picture of, to try to hone your skill of guessing how much to over or under exposure you images. I did this at dusk and into the night one time, as I couldn't get my head around how to expose for that, and in one evening I finally understood just how to expose in those situations. Thoroughly recommend doing this exercise in whatever lighting situation you wish to master.
And as a final note, that white card is still very useful. I use it when I need to set the white balance in my camera if I find myself in a difficult lighting situation, so the cards are not just in my camera bag for nothing.
I hope this helps somebody. (Sorry for the long post)
By the way, centre weight works sort of like spot metering, but with a much bigger spot. The 20% outside of the centre has little effect on the overall exposure, although you may need to add an extra +/- 1/3 stop compensation if that 20% area is particularly bright or dark.
I use spot metering a lot. My GF is black. And I've had some disappointing silhouette pictures 😄Maybe I'll try evaluative metering again. I sometimes wonder if Canon, and Lightroom have unconscious prejudice to fairer skin. That's not to be taken too seriously 😉
it is biased thats for sure. you just need to work out how much compensation you need to dial in all the time.
Martin, I understand the exposure triangle and how it’s changing my image. But what is exposure compensation actually doing in the background? It is not changing my parameters that I can see, the aperture/shutter/ISO remain as I set them. I can only deduce exposure compensation is likely changing the 18% gray to something higher or lower to achieve my desired image. Is that correct? Thanks! Hope you’re well. Keith
If you are setting aperture, ISO, and shutter (basically going full manual), exposure comp does nothing. Exposure comp only applies when you are letting the camera control at least one of those three, and is your way to tell the camera that it is metering too light or dark and needs to adjust. For example, say you are in aperture priority, and letting the camera set the shutter (we’ll leave the ISO fixed for this discussion). Your scene has bright and dark zones, and the camera is running the shutter so quickly that you are underexposing the darker areas badly. That is when you use the exposure comp and bump it up a stop or two - by bumping it up, the camera will slow the shutter down without you having to manual check.
@@Skipsul I've often wondered what it was for, but I usually use manual. I need to try other modes for times when I need more speed. Then I need to try to understand this better.
as @skipsul says. I think for myself I need to try to remember what it was like learning photography, I want to make better tutorials and these questions help me think of this.
Do you combine the spot focus with the metering spot? I have a R5 and my focus I put on the AF button on the back. Which button on the front has your spot meter?
I seem to find that partial metering, which sits somewhere between evaluative and spot, generally requires less compensation than evaluative. Should I just leave it set to partial metering? It always seems to be a bit of a balance between not blowing out highlights and not losing detail in the shadows.
Really it’s what you get used to. Once you find a method that works for you and feels predictable stick with it
Does anyone use a grey card anymore? Used to be one in nearly every camera bag.
I think the problem with them is they are too slow for a lot of photography and also not really needed these days. Its better to learn your camera so you actually know it so you dont need to rely on things like grey cards. Grey carding everything is extremely slow unfortunately.
👍
are you online lessons only cover editing?
At the moment yes
So to summarise,as my dear old mother used to say,"suck it and see."...................................................
pretty much yes
I thought this was going to be simple. Too wordy. Just show the modes and corresponding symbols and explain what they do.
That’s what the Manual is for.