Metering question

When shooting outdoors and your subject(s) is/are people and if you rely on your camera's meter (vs a handheld light meter),

a) which metering mode do you choose and in which circumstances?

b) what specifically do you meter off of? (ie faces, clothing, something in the immediate subject area, etc.)

Thank you.

I generally use "spot" metering mode. What I meter off of depends on the scene. If I want to be certain to preserve the highlights, I'll meter off of them. Sometimes I'll use green grass when outdoors. Other times I'll use a persons skin. The main thing is to know how your meter reacts with what tones and where to place the "needle" for a proper exposure. Centering the "needle" quite often does not lead to a proper exposure.

When metering, I usually expose for the shadows and meter using a hand held meter. Usually the Seikonic L350

depends, i often stick with evaluative in order to balance the whole scene. i shoot RAW so my intent is to capture the most information possible so i have all i need to work with in post. i check my histogram whenever i change lighting conditions to make sure im not clipping and lights or blacks.

i will switch to spot metering on occasion, especially for sun flare shots where evaluative just wont cut it due to the light conditions.

I use a Minolta handheld meter and take a reading off my subjects cheek.

I use a handheld meter mostly because its nearly foolproof. But if thats not available I use spot and pick a neutral color/tone that equates to 18% gray.