Mountain-Light
How to Control your Meter and Master Exposure Problems
It's believed that photography was discovered around 1825 but officially at least, Daguerre invented photography in France in 1839. It was in this year that "photography" was made public - or rather his particular process was. That invention was eventually viewed as a revolution in the arts.
Photography today has little to do with the "photography" invented in 1839.
Today, almost everyone can have a camera and quickly record daily events - the digital invention has revolutionised photography.
However, a common challenge that the early as well as today's photographers have had to deal with is how to achieve correct photographic exposure, consistently? Photographers of all kinds have been conditioned to trust implicitly their in-built camera meter.
Far too many photographers shoot at whatever their camera meter suggests. But does the meter always give you the correct exposure?
While today's light meters are excellent, They're not infallible - in some situations their results are unpredictable and often disappointing.
For instance, Imagine you're photographing a bride with a white dress, the groom wears a black suit and a light blue shirt. The sun is almost from behind them. How are you going to meter this scene? How will you get the blacks black, the whites white and the light blue likewise?
If you accept the value that your camera meter gives you, most likely you
ll end up with either an overexposed or underexposed image. Do you know why? How does a light meter suggest a value in a given situation?
To answer these questions we need to understand how a light meter works.
Everything about exposure comes down to the amount of light reflected by objects. Exposure meters measure this light and provide exposure recommendations.
Light meters come in two general types: meters that measure what is called incident light and meters that measure reflected light.
Incident light meters measure the light that falls on the subject from the source of light. Reflected light meters measure the light that bounces off the subject to the camera.
The industry has used a universal standard for exposure meter calibration. Subjects vary greatly in their reflectance. For this reason the camera in-built meter is programmed to be based on the luminance of light which is reflected from an object appearing as middle grey, 18% tone.
In our example above, if we simply accepted the value given by the meter the result would all be related to this 18% value. The black suit would be less black, the white dress would be white grey and the colour of the shirt would be darker.
How does this knowledge affect correct exposure? In certain situations the photographer has to adjust the meter value to obtain a correct exposure. But by how much? Is there a method that answers that question? Yes! The Zone System introduced by Ansell Adams is one method.
If you want to master exposure and be introduced to the famous Zone System as a creative tool and a method to solve exposure problems with digital photography, the Digital edition of "The Art of Monochrome" book will be of great value. This ebook is offered in this website: http://www.mountain-light.co.uk.
________________________________
Carlos Pereira received a qualification from the British Institute of Professional Photographers. He developed a successful business in the UK as a wedding and Portrait photographer. He received further training in the USA from Monte Zucker, a master photographer.
His Wildlife and Portrait photographs have been published in the UK and European photographic magazines.
He concentrates his photography as a travelling photographer and a teacher, offering his expertise as a nature photographer through digital books.
His vision has been moulded by the classic portraiture that was his business for a number of years.
It's believed that photography was discovered around 1825 but officially at least, Daguerre invented photography in France in 1839. It was in this year that "photography" was made public - or rather his particular process was. That invention was eventually viewed as a revolution in the arts.
Photography today has little to do with the "photography" invented in 1839.
Today, almost everyone can have a camera and quickly record daily events - the digital invention has revolutionised photography.
However, a common challenge that the early as well as today's photographers have had to deal with is how to achieve correct photographic exposure, consistently? Photographers of all kinds have been conditioned to trust implicitly their in-built camera meter.
Far too many photographers shoot at whatever their camera meter suggests. But does the meter always give you the correct exposure?
While today's light meters are excellent, They're not infallible - in some situations their results are unpredictable and often disappointing.
For instance, Imagine you're photographing a bride with a white dress, the groom wears a black suit and a light blue shirt. The sun is almost from behind them. How are you going to meter this scene? How will you get the blacks black, the whites white and the light blue likewise?
If you accept the value that your camera meter gives you, most likely you
ll end up with either an overexposed or underexposed image. Do you know why? How does a light meter suggest a value in a given situation?
To answer these questions we need to understand how a light meter works.
Everything about exposure comes down to the amount of light reflected by objects. Exposure meters measure this light and provide exposure recommendations.
Light meters come in two general types: meters that measure what is called incident light and meters that measure reflected light.
Incident light meters measure the light that falls on the subject from the source of light. Reflected light meters measure the light that bounces off the subject to the camera.
The industry has used a universal standard for exposure meter calibration. Subjects vary greatly in their reflectance. For this reason the camera in-built meter is programmed to be based on the luminance of light which is reflected from an object appearing as middle grey, 18% tone.
In our example above, if we simply accepted the value given by the meter the result would all be related to this 18% value. The black suit would be less black, the white dress would be white grey and the colour of the shirt would be darker.
How does this knowledge affect correct exposure? In certain situations the photographer has to adjust the meter value to obtain a correct exposure. But by how much? Is there a method that answers that question? Yes! The Zone System introduced by Ansell Adams is one method.
If you want to master exposure and be introduced to the famous Zone System as a creative tool and a method to solve exposure problems with digital photography, the Digital edition of "The Art of Monochrome" book will be of great value. This ebook is offered in this website: http://www.mountain-light.co.uk.
________________________________
Carlos Pereira received a qualification from the British Institute of Professional Photographers. He developed a successful business in the UK as a wedding and Portrait photographer. He received further training in the USA from Monte Zucker, a master photographer.
His Wildlife and Portrait photographs have been published in the UK and European photographic magazines.
He concentrates his photography as a travelling photographer and a teacher, offering his expertise as a nature photographer through digital books.
His vision has been moulded by the classic portraiture that was his business for a number of years.
Landscape and Wildlife Photography
