checking exposure

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mkelly

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Just read bryan petersons book on exposure and a very good read i found but there is one thing which is eluding me.
he kept refering to checking exposure so am i right in thinking that i press shutter half way to focus and then what should i be looking at to check the exposure.
I have just looked through the lens on my d200 and nothing showing related to exposure.
I know about the row of lines with 0 in the middle and if the bars are over to the right it is going to be over exposed etc.But looking through the view finder with shutter button halfway down i see nothing?
very sorry if this is an idoits question and not explained very well
 
It depends what mode you are in. The view finder will tell you the aperture, shutter speed and in some cases the ISO. It will also have the exposure meter as you mentioned. You need to check all these to make sure they are where you want them to be.
If you wanted to take a picture of some running, you'd need a fast shutter speed, so you would need to check the camera has selected that for you. If it hasn't, you need to adjust something to get it there, usually either the aperture or ISO.
 
Thanks for the reply but petersons book is all about taking control in Manual

I think I must be missing some thing as I set aperture / speed etc then it says to focus and check exposure now I can only think that the way would be to take picture and check if it is too dark etc but I know this is wrong . And it is really confusing ?
 
In my camera there's an exposure meter at the bottom of the viewfinder and on the screen (will take a photo of mine when I get home) bear in mind it's a canon not a Nikon but you should have something similar - it's the little bar thing that shows 3 stops positive and 3 shots negative with 0 in the middle, 0 is supposed to indicate an ideal exposure - not blown but not too dark etc. I'm not sure if this helps without the picture though....
 
Feel a right fool just been and checked and I did not have it in manual

When it is in manual the exposure meter is there so the photo can be adjusted before the actual shot is taken .
 
Thanks stephy it was my stupid mistake which will not be made again old and foolish spring to mind lol
 
In Manual mode you have to use the exposure bar, (normally located at the bottom of the view finder and have -2 -1 0 +1 +2 with an arrow or a line which moves up and down this scale) this is the camera's light meter and will display the what the cameras think is the correct exposure...normally you try and aim for the arrow or line in the "0" mark for a fairly correct exposure...

I would assume this is what Brian Peterson is referring to check as light can change quickly depending on your surroundings/subject.

Dan.
 
mkelly said:
Thanks stephy it was my stupid mistake which will not be made again old and foolish spring to mind lol
Click to expand...

Hahaha no problems :D I think we all have those 'blonde' moments!!!
 
mkelly said:
Feel a right fool just been and checked and I did not have it in manual

When it is in manual the exposure meter is there so the photo can be adjusted before the actual shot is taken .
Click to expand...

You should remember that when you centre the exposure meter on the '0' that will give you an exposure that the camera thinks is correct.

IIRC Bryan Peterson asks the question at the start of his book, "what is a correct exposure?" and the answer is something along the lines of, "whatever the photographer wants it to be." i.e. sometimes you will want to overexpose, sometimes you will want to underexpose.
 
Thanks Leslie I know about what he means but it was the checking while looking through viewfinder that was causing confusion but hopefully I have it sorted now but thanks anyway.
 
I am reading his book too, and he seems to meter the sky for most stuff. Good book.
 
That is just checking that your settings match what the camera thinks is the correct exposure.
I would think a better check of exposure is to look for over exposed highlights (having them blink on screen - same with under exposed if available) and looking at the actual photo taken. One of the biggest advantages of digital...
 
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