Page 24 - Learning How to Photograph with your DSLR Camera 2nd Edition Jan 2021

Lesson 4: Metering for an Exposure

Metering is the measurement of light in the scene that will give you the correct
exposure. In this lesson, you are going to learn how to measure light for your subject for
a more perfect exposure. Sorry to say, the in-camera light meters in your DSLR can be
fooled resulting in incorrect exposure.
Metering light is measured in two ways, Reflective and Incident light. When the meter
suggests a correct exposure, it will be aligned at 0.

Our digital cameras meter reflected light through the lens (TTL), while a handheld meter
measures light as it falls on the subject. For the purposes of this course the focus will
be on our in-camera meters.

Reflected Metering Through the Lens (TTL)

Most of the time our in-camera default metering is accurate. Times when it has more
difficulty are:

▪ Back-lit Subjects: a person in front of a sunset
▪ Dark photographs: a black cat in shadow
▪ Bright backgrounds: front-lit subject in the midday sun
▪ Light Subjects: Snow, white birds

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