Metering
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It is important to control the amount of light your camera lets in.
You can measure light by using your camera’s light meter. By measuring the light in each part of the frame, you’ll get a sense for how bright or dark the various areas are. If an area is too bright, it will be “clipped” by the image sensor and appear completely white. If an area is too dark, it will appear grayish and full of noise.
There are three ways you can measure light to help set exposure. These are the camera’s metering modes. To access the meter modes, simply press and hold the metering button located next to the shutter button while turning the main command dial.
The center-weighted average metering mode meters the entire frame but assigns the greatest weight to the area in the center of the frame.
The middle setting on the dial is the 3D color matrix-metering mode. When measuring light in this mode, the camera meters a wide area of the frame and sets exposure according to the distribution of brightness, color, distance, and compensation for natural results.
Spot metering used to measure light in a specific part of the subject or scene. The metering is weighted at the selected focus point covering about 2% of the frame. This helps ensure that the subject will be correctly exposed even when the background is much brighter or darker than the subject.
During these next assignments find an area that is not consistently lit. Perhaps your backyard offers different amount of light in shade, direct sunlight, or under an awning. Also, try different lighting scenarios. For example, find fluorescent light, natural light, or even tungsten light.
Assignments