I think that metering is one of the most important things we do as photographers.
Our meter allows us evaluate what we’re photographing, while our chosen exposure, based on our metering, allows us to get the visual information that we want in our picture.
When we understand metering and exposure we can use our understanding to strengthen our compositions.
If you are working your camera in manual mode you can pick a metering pattern/mode and use metering and exposure as part of your compositional process.
If you are working your camera in an auto mode your camera is making exposure choices for you.
See if you can answer the following questions that involve metering and exposure.
When you created your last photograph…
- What metering pattern/mode did you use?
- Why did you choose this metering pattern/mode?
- What did you meter off of? (a face, a cloud, a dog, a flower, etc)
- Did you change your exposure settings (Aperture/F-stop, shutter speed, ISO) from your originally metered setting? If yes, why?
If you’d like you can post your answers, or any replies to this post in the comments area below.