Metering off the grass :)

How many of you meter off grass for exposure? I find this technique to be very good specially when the light is constant specially for skin tones. anybody else use this technique?

Why not meter off the subject? Back in the film days with manual SLR cameras, I would meter off the face of the subject from a distance of about two feet. I am presuming that you want the exposure to have people's faces exposed at approximately midtone.

metering off faces doesnt work for me all the time. different races, different faces.

The technique was well known in the days of film. In fact I sometimes meter from the tarmac when shooting motorsport if it looks somewhere near a mid tone, which is using similar logic to your grass.

I tend to use spot metering and when shooting landscapes will pick a tone I want to appear mid tone in the print. Whether thats actually mid tone in the actual scene is of less importance.

Metering the grass frequently works, although bluegrass is half a stop darker than Bermuda grass. Weathered asphalt as well (concrete is a stop lighter, new asphalt is two stops darker).

Get an 18% gray card and spend a lazy afternoon comparing readings of the card with readings of various common surfaces, including faces and your own palm. Note those that give you the same reading, and note the difference from a gray card reading that others give you.

-MasterChief- wrote in post #10348634
metering off faces doesnt work for me all the time. different races, different faces.

This true.. Metering off grass has its merits..

I try to find something green like grass or tree leaves.

RDKirk wrote in post #10348822
Metering the grass frequently works, although bluegrass is half a stop darker than Bermuda grass. Weathered asphalt as well (concrete is a stop lighter, new asphalt is two stops darker).

Get an 18% gray card and spend a lazy afternoon comparing readings of the card with readings of various common surfaces, including faces and your own palm. Note those that give you the same reading, and note the difference from a gray card reading that others give you.

hi RD, if i could pick your brain a lil so i can understand a bit more....wouldnt the gray card exercise be futile if the lighting is different between the gray card and the scene youre comparing it to?

ccp900 wrote in post #10349037
hi RD, if i could pick your brain a lil so i can understand a bit more....wouldnt the gray card exercise be futile if the lighting is different between the gray card and the scene youre comparing it to?

That's why one must place the grey card near the subject in the same light..

yogestee wrote in post #10349072
That's why one must place the grey card near the subject in the same light..

ahh yes, that i agree with....i was just intrigued what RD meant by spending a lazy afternoon comparing an 18% card with normal everyday stuff that you photograph...i might have misread RD's statement.

oh and metering off the grass is 1 technique described in this wonderful book that you should have a copy of....understanding exposure by bryan peterson....

I tried metering off grass but it didn't work for me.

can you expound on what happened?

Green grass is a sometimes useful surrogate for an 18% tonality, but everyone should realize that it is NOT ALWAYS an accurate surrogate! Reflective sheen of grass, especially when damp/wet, can make it brighter than an 18% gray card.

Yea, I havent experimented metering the grass before. I tried it once and my pictures came out underexposed. I guess I should add a 2/3 of a stop next time.

I just did a test, at high noon under clear sky located at 38th degree latitude, with a Minolta one degree spot meter reading 18% gray card with meter about 45 degrees to ground and not getting reflective sheen from its surface, and also with Minolta incident meter
...both read ISO 250, 1/250 f/16 +0.5EV.

In comparison, green blade grass of my backyard lawn measured between -1.8EV and -2.1EV compared to the 18% gray card or incident reading.