Sunny Days, spot metering, and Exp.Comp

Guys,

Can anyone explain why on the brightest of sunny days, and the wedding dress is practically glowing, why metering off of it and adding an exposure compensation of +1 or +2 should give me a well balanced shot?

In my head, I'm thinking that if I meter off of that dress (which even to my eye is bright) that the shot is already set to be overexposed, and I should stop DOWN to keep the highlights from the dress from being overblown....

I'm going to do some testing myself of course, but after searching through here, the "spot the dress, and add +1 EV" seems to be the most consistent response.

Thanks in advance

It's because the camera tries to make everything 18% gray.

It meters to make the dress look dull and gray. Adding +1 will make it white, like it's SUPPOSED to look. Simple as that. Same with a black tux.. you gotta underexpose it to make it look black, not gray.

So....

1) what is the recommended method for when it's just the two of them (B&G)??

2) and what about group shots, where for the most part the bride is white, the bridesmaids are in a wide range of colours, and the guys are in darker colours??

Does this change if there is fill flash required???

Thanks again!

I generally meter for the dress. I shoot so it just starts to blink on the screen saying it's blown out highlight. You can always pull it back in RAW by 1/3 stop, and that method leaves enough shadow detail for the groom in black.

Thank you, Lloyd!

Meter for the highlights with digital. This is especially true with a white wedding dress. I use a spot meter and read the highlight on the dress then increase the exposure by about 2 stops, take a test shot, read the histogram and adjust the highlight exposure (the right quadrant) if needed.

Rick