Metering when taking portraits

AndrewSt

AndrewSt

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As a general rule do you tend to use evaluative metering or spot? I usually use the evaluative mode but have struggled to get it right in challenging light conditions.

Still a relative beginner so any suggestion appreciated?
 
A very broad question. In the studio or location? Flash or natural light?

If natural light it is all depending on conditions your faced with or the effect you want to achieve.
 
No studio work. Natural light at the moment, weddings etc. Just learning. So I guess their is no hard rule, learn to alter it on the conditions!
 
Pretty much!

Different togs will have methods that suit them and they way they shoot. Some will meter for the white dress where as others won't put as much importance on absolutely not having the dress blown out at all.
 
As a general rule I use evaluative, but I know my meter and how to use it to get what I want.

As Steve said, that's the skill. There's no recipe for success, you just have to learn and practice. But it's all OK as long as you fully understand all this before you take on paying customers, because it'd be idiotic to be shooting people for money whilst you're still unsure about such things.;)
 
Thanks. Nowhere near begin able to charge for services, still very much learning and trying to improve my skills. I think my next purchase has to be a decent flash and then learn how to use it properly.
 
Usually i use evaluative. I am used to this mode and most of the time I can predict how much I need to dial and it's biased towards active focusing point. I want to learn to use spot, but unfortunately my camera does not offer AF point spot metering (greedy canon leaves this for 1D series cameras) and it involves pressing too many buttons and locking exposure. It's often needed with a all manual glass in auto ISO when subject is not dead center in the frame.
 
I just assess the scene then use the live histogram in evaluative mode to get what I think will be a correct exposure and then just adjust it if necessary.
 
look up incident light readings and take these, or right off the subjects highlight.
http://www.digital-photo-secrets.co...light-and-which-type-gives-you-better-photos/
being digital...bracket
another method to get a basis for your readings is take a reading off your palm, or a 'photographic grey card'
chump your shots and take more than one..you can throw the others away when you get the winner
cheers
geof
 
Michael Freeman in his Perfect Exposure book is a big advocate of learning how evaluative mode works for a given camera and developing spot metering skills. I'm quoting slightly out of context here but of centre weighted he says 'Center-weighting is particularly dangerous... because the central area shades off ... and many cameras do not show the extent [of the area].'
 
mrtoad said:
look up incident light readings and take these, or right off the subjects highlight.
http://www.digital-photo-secrets.co...light-and-which-type-gives-you-better-photos/
geof
Click to expand...

I hope it's just language skills but I find this opening quote from that link terribly unhelpful:
There are two essential forms of light: Incident and Reflective. They work both together to create light and apart in their own separate ways. - See more at: http://www.digital-photo-secrets.co...gives-you-better-photos/#sthash.cZVBbWwP.dpuf
Click to expand...

In fact the whole article is a bit of a dog's dinner. I can see what he's getting at but he seems terribly confused about the difference between types of light source and types of metering.
Try http://www.sekonic.com/l-478/incident-vs-reflected.html instead
 
I have always used spot metering on the basis I am metering primarily for the subject and not for the surround.

Using spot metering also doesn't need to mean you only meter off one point. For landscape, for example, I might meter the sky and the subject and this could lead to a decision on using an ND filter.
 
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mrtoad said:
chump your shots and take more than one..you can throw the others away when you get the winner
cheers
geof
Click to expand...

I don't feel like this is particularly good advice; the key is to understanding the different methods and how they work so you know the best situation to use them.

I rarely change it from evaluative because that seems to work well most of the time, I only change it when im trying to achieve a certain look.
 
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