Question for those of you using spot

I fully comprehend the control spot metering offers, which is why I'm forcing myself to use it and get better with it. I am shooting second for a pro and we did our first wedding together yesterday. Fortunately, for the first couple of weddings he expects nothing from me except to try hard, pay attention, and get a feel for the flow of things. So yesterday there was no pressure (except what I put on myself) which gave me the room to experiment and try to find what works best for me in that fast paced enviroment.

What I struggled with was the ever changing light conditions when we were outside. The sun was in and out of the clouds and part of the time we were not in shade. What I tried to do was meter off her dress and go +2/3 but it seemed one shot would be dark and the next would have blown highlights. Not massivly in either direction mind you, but I wasn't nailing it. I tried going AV and exp locking on her dress at +2/3 too. I also tried using rocks etc. like I do when I'm out shooting landscapes, but I just couldn't seem to get spot on exposures every single shot. I shot RAW all day (the only way I shoot) so they are all fixable, but I really want to master this.

So I guess my question would be - Is there a method you guys use to get your exposures spot on in rapidly changing light? Is there a safe place in a wedding eviroment that you usually look to to meter from (ie. dress). Just wondering what you all do as I know a bunch of you swear by spot.

I'd appreciate any input or advice you can toss my way.

Chris

I shot in Portland yesterday too, so I know exactly what you mean by the constantly changing light. I don't use spot metering, though, so I can't directly answer your question. Where did you shoot? Post some pics!

Wasn't it a pain! Minute by minute it changed from full sun to overcast. What metering method did you/do you use Jess?

Oh and we shot in my hometown, Newberg. We did the formals out by a really nice waterfall feature they have on site. Nice backdrop, but that light...ugh.

Chris

Like jess said.. Lets see some samples

The pro I shot for has my cards atm. I won't have any pics for a few days. However, I think I did a pretty good job of explaining the situation and the results I got above. Not really looking for critiques on images anyway, I know what is wrong with them. Just looking for advice on how people meter in rapidly changing lighting conditions shooting a B/G. Where they put the spot, what mode they are in, etc.

Chris

NWShooter wrote in post #3432596
Wasn't it a pain! Minute by minute it changed from full sun to overcast. What metering method did you/do you use Jess?

Oh and we shot in my hometown, Newberg. We did the formals out by a really nice waterfall feature they have on site. Nice backdrop, but that light...ugh.

Chris

Yes, it was...grrr...so I had to shoot in a very tight, shaded (and slanted!) spot for formals. At least it didn't rain, like today! The waterfall sounds cool! I use pattern, but I've just learned to know what it's metering, and how to get it to meter what I want...not perfectly, of course, and it's difficult to do in a fast-paced wedding, but I'm getting better at it. Post some pics, when you can, or if you want to. I don't need to critique them, I just like looking at wedding pics!

spot meetering should only be used in M mode in my opinion.
You have to know how to do the exposure in your head then apply it to the camera.

I shot a wedding yesterday in, of all places, Monument, Oregon. I was fortunate enough to have lots of shade though and didn't have to fight the ever changing sky. I think there might be a total of 100 people that live there, but that city park had at least 300 people in it, It was quite a bash!

My only question is; Why are you trying to force yourself into using spot metering?

The camera is equipped with a multitude of metering patterns, what did you use before? Were you getting consistent results? If so, why change, if not why change to the *most difficult metering mode to get right.

*Spot metering is simple if you can spot a medium tone easily, or if you can spot a tone that you KNOW for certain is x stops + or - from 18%. This comes with a great deal of experience - I've been shooting for 20+ years and I can spot an 'average' scene, but couldn't always find a sample to spot reliably.

IMHO spot metering is more useful to landscape photographers who have time to take multiple readings to get a 'perfect' exposure. Wedding photographers have to work quickly, an incident meter is quicker than taking multiple spot readings.

In constantly changing light, the eval metering in your camera will get you something like, provided you understand what it's doing.

From my film shooting days in wedding coverage...

The bride's gown is your most important object to preserve detail in shots (forget the groom's tux unless his is the ONLY gender in the shot!)...so take an incident light reading, then compare it to a spot reading taken off the bride's gown. The difference in readings is what you set as EC, then you can meter all day with Spot aimed at the bride's gown in the changing intensity of light and you will always preserve the detail in her dress.

Wilt wrote in post #3436067
The difference in readings is what you set as EC, then you can meter all day with Spot aimed at the bride's gown in the changing intensity of light and you will always preserve the detail in her dress..

This is a useful advise I learn here... I've never used the light meter yet but got one and going to use this week-end, I hope.

i just shot a wedding yesterday for my friends (the B&G) and i tried to use spot when shooting the bouquet and candles and other detailed stuff. i tried it on 6-7 shots.. and decided better to use evaluative just to be safe.

although i do wish i have a lightmeter though.. but can't say if i will know exactly how to use it properly.

EOS mE wrote in post #3436897
i just shot a wedding yesterday for my friends (the B&G) and i tried to use spot when shooting the bouquet and candles and other detailed stuff. i tried it on 6-7 shots.. and decided better to use evaluative just to be safe.

although i do wish i have a lightmeter though.. but can't say if i will know exactly how to use it properly.

If one has not read Ansel Adams book on The Negative, it is highly unlikely that you understand tonality of different things well enough to use a true spot meter correctly. And results with a spot meter are as likely to be 'all over the place' as Evaluative metering results! It is necessary to understand inherent subject brightness and recognize the tonality of what your spotmeter is reading in order to get truly predictable results that do not have to be adjusted with RAW convertors or Photoshop! The so-called Spot meter in the 30D is really a 'limited field' meter (unlike a one degree spot meter) so using the 30D spotmeter is simply 'averaging what falls into 3 degrees of the viewfinder', which is a much more forgiving thing than a true spotmeter.

when im shooting and the light keeps changing too fast (windy day with lots of fat clouds), i usually give up and put the camera on aperture priority and just shoot away.

Just make sure to set the aperture to a small enough one so if the sun comes out, your shutter speed isnt faster then your flash sync.

Wilt wrote in post #3436934
If one has not read Ansel Adams book on The Negative, it is highly unlikely that you understand tonality of different things well enough to use a true spot meter correctly. And results with a spot meter are as likely to be 'all over the place' as Evaluative metering results! It is necessary to understand inherent subject brightness and recognize the tonality of what your spotmeter is reading in order to get truly predictable results that do not have to be adjusted with RAW convertors or Photoshop! The so-called Spot meter in the 30D is really a 'limited field' meter (unlike a one degree spot meter) so using the 30D spotmeter is simply 'averaging what falls into 3 degrees of the viewfinder', which is a much more forgiving thing than a true spotmeter.

ah... looks like it's time to buy another book for some reading. now is that book a light reading or deep?