out door Portraits, what metering mode are you using

suggs

suggs

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Harry
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out of interest im wondering what the preferred metering mode people tend to use for outdoor portrait work especially in full manual, do you spot meter off the persons face and adjust settings until correct exposure is shown on the camera's meter or use matrix etc


thanks
 
Eval generally, but in tricky lighting I'll lock exposure on an 'average' scene if I feel the need.
 
thanks, i think evaluative is the same as Nikons matrix which is what i use 99 percent of the time, ive not tried exp lock on a average part of the scene so will give that a try..
 
For outdoor portraits? Incident metering every time.
 
suggs said:
would you use the light meter to take a reading to the subjects face ? i currently dont have an external meter although have been thinking of buying one
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You take the reading in the same light as the area that you want to be rendered as a mid-grey value in the print. So, if you want the subject's face to be a mid-tone, then yes, you'd take a reading in the same light as the subject's face.

It's great for outdoor, backlit portraits, although I usually meter for the shadow underneath the subject's chin, as I shoot mostly colour negative film, which can handle several stops of overexposure without a problem.
 
skysh4rk said:
You take the reading in the same light as the area that you want to be rendered as a mid-grey value in the print. So, if you want the subject's face to be a mid-tone, then yes, you'd take a reading in the same light as the subject's face.

It's great for outdoor, backlit portraits, although I usually meter for the shadow underneath the subject's chin, as I shoot mostly colour negative film, which can handle several stops of overexposure without a problem.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info RJ
 
Last winter I got into the habit of using a light meter (Sekonic 308 I think) - it had the advantage of slowing me down and making me more careful. I tend to get overexcited and careless about my exposures which catches me out when shooting manual. I've not used it recently mind you, Mandy
 
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