Metering Mode

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ElCapone

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Elliott
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Only recently became the owner of the 60d and so far my photos have been of my kids, mainly outside.

I have noticed that my skies are blown and lack detail so tonight I spot metered the sky and then recomposed the shot.

The sky looks great but the foreground and my kids look underexposed which I guess is to be expected.

I loaded them up in the computer and edited them so the foreground has more detail and is lighter but I wouldnt want to do this every time.

What are your tips/advice? Should I be using a different metering mode, a filter?

When I got home I did think maybe I should have opened the apperture a bit, this would help wouldn't it?

Thanks folks
 
You are dealing with a situation where the scene has a greater dynamic range than your camera can record.

Unfortunately our eyes have an awesome auto exposure mode (and great auto WB too). That confuses us when we look at the sky (our eye stops down automatically) and we see the detail, then we look at the landscape and see the detail there too (the eye opens up).

The only choices are:
Blend multiple exposures to create the shot (great for landscapes)

Fill flash for the foreground to balance the sky (great for people)

A reflector (as above)

A graduated ND filter to darken the sky (more use for landscapes - particularly where there's a straight horizon).

To see how good your auto exposure is - stand in the garden with the back door open (in the daylight) When you look into the door you'll see it's really dark inside. Then walk into the house and see how it's perfectly bright, now turn round and see outside - just normal.

If you do that with your camera, set a manual exposure outside and walk inside, the shot will be so underexposed as to be almost black. The same is true if you set a manual exposure indoors and then walk out - a white out.
 
Thanks Phil, just googling fill flash now. Would the built in flash be capable enough or should I look to purchase a flash?

I guess for the more snap shot type of shot of my kids when we are out and about I should not bother metering the sky and make sure I get the exposure right on them but for shots that have been set up then I should look to fill flash the foreground?

Sorry if this comes across as clueless, would you suggest using another metering mode other than spot metering?
 
ElCapone said:
Thanks Phil, just googling fill flash now. Would the built in flash be capable enough or should I look to purchase a flash?

I guess for the more snap shot type of shot of my kids when we are out and about I should not bother metering the sky and make sure I get the exposure right on them but for shots that have been set up then I should look to fill flash the foreground?

Sorry if this comes across as clueless, would you suggest using another metering mode other than spot metering?
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About the only thing your built in flash is good for is fill flash, but it has to be only fill (about -1) not used as a full on balance, it's not a pretty keylight.

There's a good youtube tutorial on the Adorama site about fill flash.
 
A better option might be simply to ensure the sky is excluded from the shots! Get into a position where the background is filled with something like trees or a wall so you don't have the sky in the shot at all.
 
or at least don't shoot on a white sky/overcast day and make sure the light is behind you.
 
ElCapone said:
The sky looks great but the foreground and my kids look underexposed which I guess is to be expected.

I loaded them up in the computer and edited them so the foreground has more detail and is lighter but I wouldnt want to do this every time.

What are your tips/advice? Should I be using a different metering mode, a filter?

When I got home I did think maybe I should have opened the apperture a bit, this would help wouldn't it?

Thanks folks
Click to expand...

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=440126




As Phil V said... you can't shoot for both as it exceeds the dynamic range of the sensor. Fill flash, studio lighting, or a reflector will all make a difference, but there's no metering mode or combination of shutter speed/aperture that will resolve the issue.
 
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Very helpfull link David, thats for that and thanks to everyone for their replies.
 
What about exposure compensation? Couldn't that help?
 
StephyB said:
What about exposure compensation? Couldn't that help?
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It will help you get a correct exposure of a subject that is backlit, yes, but the background will probably be over exposed. You can't get both correctly exposed if the contrast between subject and background is excessive, no.
 
Quick and dirty solution, that can work well if the difference between the sky and foreground isn't too great.

As said, the problem is not exposure, but dynamic range. To maximise that, use Expose To The Right technique (ETTR) and adjust in post processing. It's basically similar to option one in Phil's reply post #2.

Shoot Raw at low ISO (to maximise dynamic range and reduce noise) and have blinkies enabled (highlight alert, in menus). Take a test shot and adjust exposure so that the bright sky just stops blinking, then check the histogram and you'll see there's a big lump on the far right hand side - hence the ETTR name. You have now maxed out the sensor's dynamic range, and the exposure is as good as it can get without taking other measures.

In post processing, lighten the foreground, and maybe darken the sky a bit too. In Lightroom (highly recommended) for example, this is the work of seconds using the shadow and highlight sliders.

This will almost always give you a good result in terms of overall brightness, though if you have to push the sliders too far you may end up with noise in the shadows. Some cameras/sensors are better at this than others, particularly full-frame, but it's always worth a try - it can only make things better.

Edit: Correction - see post #17 below.
 
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ernesto said:
or at least don't shoot on a white sky/overcast day and make sure the light is behind you.
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Only if you like squinty faces..... ;)





I'd go for spot metering, light behind the subject (preferably up on the left/right, but not in frame), with a lens hood, polarising filter and fill flash.... But you kinda have to set the filter before fitting the hood, by which time your victim will be starting to get bored!!!

This way they won't be squinting, you won't pick up shadows on the face and the sun will put a nice soft glow around them and through the hair.
 
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ernesto said:
or at least don't shoot on a white sky/overcast day and make sure the light is behind you.
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I'm assuming this is for landscape photography?

Because it's the opposite of good advice for portraiture.
Overcast days = Massive softbox.:thumbs:
Light behind the subject = comfortable expression.:thumbs:

Bright sunshine = harsh shadows:thumbsdown:
Light behind you = squinty eyes.:thumbsdown:
 
HoppyUK said:
As said, the problem is not exposure, but dynamic range. To maximise that, use Expose To The Right technique (ETTR) and adjust in post processing. It's basically similar to option one in Phil's reply post #2.
Click to expand...


....or use a reflector or fill flash and do it properly.


It's nothing like option one in Phil's post, as he suggests using dual exposures (or even multiple).. one correct for shadows, one correct for highlights. Not really practical for portrait though.

What you suggest is merely exposing so as to not clip the highlights. This will still leave the main subject very underexposed, and no matter what you do in Lightroom, bringing out shadow detail that is under exposed adds noise. Fact.

If your dynamic range has been exceeded in a backlit portrait and you have no reflector, or additional means of lowering the contrast, then the best thing to do is not ETTR at all, but to aim for an exposure that allow as much recovery of both as possible, or better still, just expose correctly for your subject. Having said that, if you have no flash or reflector.. and it's a portrait, I'd rather still expose for my subject, as that's what I'm shooting, and that's what is most important. A heavily backlit subject may not look too bad... could even look cool if done well, but exposing for the bright background with ETTR will always under expose your subject in favour of the highlights.

Really bad idea if you ask me. If anything.. ETTL and let the highlights go. I wouldn't want to be recovering lost shadow detail if that detail is actually the face of the subject I'm shooting.... because that's what ETTR would do here.
 
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Another way to look at it..... If the pictures are of your kids does the sky really matter?

I always try and get the subject exposed correctly, if I can recover some detail in a blown sky in PP then it's a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

Would much rather get a decent, natural shot of the kids playing than miss it because I was worried how the sky/background was going to look :)
 
Pookeyhead said:
....or use a reflector or fill flash and do it properly.


It's nothing like option one in Phil's post, as he suggests using dual exposures (or even multiple).. one correct for shadows, one correct for highlights. Not really practical for portrait though.

What you suggest is merely exposing so as to not clip the highlights. This will still leave the main subject very underexposed, and no matter what you do in Lightroom, bringing out shadow detail that is under exposed adds noise. Fact.

If your dynamic range has been exceeded in a backlit portrait and you have no reflector, or additional means of lowering the contrast, then the best thing to do is not ETTR at all, but to aim for an exposure that allow as much recovery of both as possible, or better still, just expose correctly for your subject. Having said that, if you have no flash or reflector.. and it's a portrait, I'd rather still expose for my subject, as that's what I'm shooting, and that's what is most important. A heavily backlit subject may not look too bad... could even look cool if done well, but exposing for the bright background with ETTR will always under expose your subject in favour of the highlights.

Really bad idea if you ask me. If anything.. ETTL and let the highlights go. I wouldn't want to be recovering lost shadow detail if that detail is actually the face of the subject I'm shooting.... because that's what ETTR would do here.
Click to expand...

Quite right David. For some reason, I was thinking of a general landscape shot where things like fill-in flash are not an option :bonk: Having now read the OP properly :D I would say fill-flash every time. The pop-up is good for that and really easy :thumbs: and a separate gun with high speed sync mode can do the job even in the brightest conditions. Apologies for the confusion; I've added a note to my reply above.

Not sure about this though: "the best thing to do is not ETTR at all, but to aim for an exposure that allow as much recovery of both as possible" which is exactly what ETTR does :thinking:
 
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