Spot meter stupidity

Okay I am really confused and I am sorry for such a stupid question. Spot meters- are they used when using a flash or can it be used in natural lighting? I am getting frustrated being told my pictures look underexposed when my camera meter is reading correct exposure. However in looking up spot meters I keep ready about flash. Is there a model that is good for reading for just ambient light?

Thanks so much for the help!!

Spot meter - do you mean the one on the camera? That can be used in all lighting types.

Oh - I just re-read, you mean the hand-held meters. Never used one but they are also called incident light meters, I think.

Also, don't let the camera tell you that the exposure is correct. If you have a range of different tones the camera will take an average reading from across the scene. Best bet is to stick it in Manual and chimp until you are happy with your exposure and use the histogram to check that you are not clipping the highlights.

In built camera meters are very easy to fool.. Usually strong backlighting is the main culprit.. If you meter for a subject which is strongly backlit and rely souly on your meter there is every chance your subject will be underexposed.. Experience will tell you to overexpose to what your meter tells you by 1 to 2 stops.. On the other side of the coin if you meter say an African-American skin tone against a black background your exposure will be overexposed by about 1-2 stops..

All meters are calibrated to read what is call 18% Reflectance Grey,, for all intents and purposes a midtone grey irrespective of what colour the subject is,, usually.. Strong reds can effect the metering..

Thats the advantage of shooting in Manual Mode and being able to guestimate where your meter should lie.. Spot meters are quite accurate where you meter exactly the subect.. Incident meters are even more accurate where you meter the light falling on the subject not the light thats being reflected.. Spot and Incident meters are both available in flash and available light meters.. Many of the topshelf models measure both..

Spotmeters measure a very small area (usually 1%) of the subject. They all measure continuous light, and newer models will read flash as well. They are the most difficult type of meter use properly. Usually several meter readings are made and careful calculations of correct exposure are made giving consideration to where on the range of light to dark the readings fall on. The classic exposure system which lends itself to the spotmeter is the Zone System.

If you need a handheld meter for general work then I would suggest an incident meter which measures the actual level of illumination rather than subject reflectance. Your biggest skill advancement would probably be to learn to use the histogram to check your exposure.

So, if you have a backlit subject and you use your cameras spot meter to take the light from the front of your subject (the darker area of the frame), this should give you the correct exposer for the whole sceen, or would it blow out the background?

Hope you dont mind me adding a question to your thread .

pprice wrote in post #6022128
So, if you have a backlit subject and you use your cameras spot meter to take the light from the front of your subject (the darker area of the frame), this should give you the correct exposer for the whole sceen, or would it blow out the background?

Hope you dont mind me adding a question to your thread .

Your background will blow out..

OK, in other words, read and figure it out pprice .

See post #3
Tips for Xmas Ball Please

pprice wrote in post #6022128
So, if you have a backlit subject and you use your cameras spot meter to take the light from the front of your subject (the darker area of the frame), this should give you the correct exposer for the whole sceen, or would it blow out the background?

You will overexpose the background and blow the highlights. The thing to understand is that cameras cannot always expose for everything and you will often be sacrificing some element of the photo in order to capture the essential elements. This is especially the case with high contrast scenes, such as your backlit subject.

One way to get around this is to use fill in flash. Meter for the background and then add flash to illuminate your subject. It's not always going to work but it'll help to balance the exposure.

michaelgreen78 wrote in post #6024873
You will overexpose the background and blow the highlights. The thing to understand is that cameras cannot always expose for everything and you will often be sacrificing some element of the photo in order to capture the essential elements. This is especially the case with high contrast scenes, such as your backlit subject.

One way to get around this is to use fill in flash. Meter for the background and then add flash to illuminate your subject. It's not always going to work but it'll help to balance the exposure.

That was a good answer!

Thanks!!

Oh, PhotosGuy, you have some great write-ups!!

reneethomas wrote in post #6019432
Okay I am really confused and I am sorry for such a stupid question. Spot meters- are they used when using a flash or can it be used in natural lighting? I am getting frustrated being told my pictures look underexposed when my camera meter is reading correct exposure. However in looking up spot meters I keep ready about flash. Is there a model that is good for reading for just ambient light?

Thanks so much for the help!!

Do you have a sample picture of what you are talking about? Getting a spot meter may not necessarily fix your exposure problem. You need to first determine what the problem is and what's causing it before you can decide on how to fix it.

I've been reading 'Understanding Exposure' - the author recommends to walk or zoom in closer to your subject and take a reading from them, then recompose the shot, and use the settings from your reading. You could also use your exposure lock button.

Highlights will still be blown of course, this is just a way to ensure your meter is not fooled.

If you have the chance to determine the background, you can do a lot to influence the final product. If you are shooting candid, watching your background will still help.

Or there's this info in the link I posted: Need an exposure crutch?

Here is one people commented on the exposure.

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