Exposing for white

I'm sure this has been ask. I did a search and gave up. I will be shooting my cousin, her husband, and their little girl this weekend. We will start sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 in the morning. Her husband is in the Navy and I was told last night that he will be wearing his Navy dress white uniform. My question is how do I expose for this? I don't want his uniform blown out. Thanks in advance.

Art

You might want to look in the wedding photography section, as they have to deal with this issue all the time.

Get a grey card and use that for judging the right exposure.

inside or outside?, if outside keep them in the shade and over-expose the white by approx 1-1.5 stop. you need to test that, but it will be somewhere around there.

Difficult metering situations call for intense chimping!
Test, chimp, and adjust.
Try to get the histogram spike from the white uniform close to the right side of the histogram, and watch for "blinkies".

Maye also try spot/partial metering on his uniform. I thikn the +1 or +2 EC is the best idea.

And don't forget to bracket as well.

Thanks everyone for your help. I should have added that it will be outdoors so I'm hoping for some clouds. Where I will be shooting has a lot of trees so I will be using the shade alot. I also will be shooting in RAW. So if I'm shooting in RAW, do I still need to bracket? I do have a grey card and tried it once but didn't know exactly what I was doing. I will be keeping a close eye on my histrogram. Thanks again.

Art

If you include any sky in the shot, it will throw the histogram off. Read...

Gray Card…White Paper. What’s best?
What’s best for exposure, Gray cards, white paper, expensive attachments for the lens?

Need an exposure crutch?

Don’t have a gray or white card, or hand held meter with you? “Film tricks” can help you out.

Thank you for your respone PhotosGuy. I have tried the Gray Card and didn't have much sucess with it. What I need to do is find someone who will be willing to be a test subject and try the Gray Card again. You are correct about the sky. I tried exposing for the sky but the subjects come out dark even with the flash firing.

Art

Thanks again everyone for your help. Here are 3 photos I took of the shoot this weekend. I'm not too happy how they came out. I still have a lot to learn.

Art

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In "Gray Card…White Paper. What’s best?", did you notice that there isn't much/any difference? The 1st 2 shots have no sky & a white uniform in them. Take a test shot of the couple & chimp the histogram to/near the right. Set those readings in "M" mode. Then take the 'final" shots & the uniform won't be blown out.
RAW helps, too.

PhotosGuy wrote:
In "Gray Card…White Paper. What’s best?", did you notice that there isn't much/any difference? The 1st 2 shots have no sky & a white uniform in them. Take a test shot of the couple & chimp the histogram to/near the right. Set those readings in "M" mode. Then take the 'final" shots & the uniform won't be blown out.
RAW helps, too.

When taking a test shot, what mode should I be in? When I was taking test shots I was in M mode and a great majority of my shots was in M mode. I have done research on histrogams and what they are telling me. However I have always been a kind of hands on person. I don't understand until someone shows me what I'm doing wrong I really want to learn this stuff but in can be fustrating at times. Again, thank you so much for your help.

Art

Don't sell yourself short, Art. Those look great to me!

Using white paper, I use M, but you could use other modes & read the cam's info from the LCD. Then change the settings in M & try again if you have to. I think you're making this harder than it really is.
With a gray card, just use the gray card reading, take a "no sky" shot & see where the white uniform falls. If it's right against the right edge, stop down 1/3 stop & try again.