Wildlife photographers, in particular, get a lot of use out of them. In the image above, spot mode has given me a pretty good exposure. This was probably a situation where spot metering was the best option.
Evaluative, pattern, and matrix metering are all different words for the same kind of metering. Evaluative metering is an improved version of center-weighted average metering. In general, evaluative metering is the best mode to leave your camera in. Browse All iPhone Articles Browse All Mac Articles Do I need one?
Browse All Android Articles Browse All Smart Home Articles Customize the Taskbar in Windows Browse All Microsoft Office Articles What Is svchost. Browse All Privacy and Security Articles Browse All Linux Articles Browse All Buying Guides. Best Portable Monitors. Best Gaming Keyboards. Best Drones. A properly exposed image is made up of three tones of light: the shadows, mid-tones, and highlights.
The image below demonstrates these three tones well. The forested hills in the foreground and dark cloud represent the shadows, the temple roof and figure represent the mid-tones, and the bright clouds represent the highlights.
A figure on the roof of a temple looks out across forested hills — Jiufen, Taiwan. Your camera has an ingenious tool called a light meter that enables it to determine a correct exposure with a balance of shadows, mid-tones, and highlights. Consider the example below. If you were to meter only off the dragon and take the photo, the dragon would be correctly exposed.
However, the sky would probably be too bright. Alternatively, if I was to meter only off the sky, the sky would be correctly exposed but the dragon would be a bit too dark. However, if I metered from a wider section of the scene, I would get a more balanced exposure. Metered off the dragon the exposure is a bit too light. But before we begin, a note about how your camera meter works. Very bright and dark tones can trick your light meter. Or would you want their tones to be rendered as truly as your eye sees them?
Typically, centre-weighted metering is used when the subject is in the centre of the frame and we just want to expose for that. The most precise of the metering modes, spot metering evaluates light around the chosen focus point or centre of the frame. This provides a precise reading from a very small area of the scene, which means it can be a very effective choice for high-contrast situations.
These are the most common modes in DSLR cameras today, but there are other options available too. Some Canon cameras feature partial metering as a fourth option.
This mode is similar to spot, but it allows you to take a reading from a slightly larger area. Another mode offered by Nikon is highlight-weighted metering, which meters for the highlights to ensure they are not overexposed.
This mode is also available in some Sony cameras, too. Sony also offers a fifth option in some cameras — entire screen avg. Hasselblad cameras, on the other hand, refer to their metering options slightly differently. Centre spot prioritises the central section of the screen and is suited to scenes where the subject is in the centre of the frame. Spot metering, like other cameras, provides an accurate measurement of a very small area and disregards any information outside of that area.
When creating an image, I find the best option is always to shoot in Manual mode and set the exposure yourself by controlling the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.
I usually set the aperture first and then set the shutter speed based on that. I make my exposure decisions based on the results I see and the histogram information. Landscape images are one example where you may want to use evaluative metering. Using this mode will help you get the best overall exposure for the whole scene, even if there are bright highlights or deep shadows. Spot Metering Mode focusing on the moon.
Madrid, Spain. In sports photography , the best metering mode for general team sports is matrix metering. Center-Weighted Metering mode to calculate the average light of the main subjects. If your subject is in a specific area against a bright or dark background, apart from center-weighted, you can use spot metering. In this case, I used Spot metering again since the subject occupied a small area in the frame.
The best metering mode for macro photography is usually spot metering. In macro and other close-ups, you want to focus on the important areas of your subject, like the eyes, so using spot metering helps you calculate the best exposure over those elements. Use spot metering mode to have the best exposure in the eye of the turtle on this close-up shot.
What are metering modes in photography? Metering modes are the systems digital cameras use to measure the light of the scene. This is done using different modes that calculate the average light of different areas in your frame.
Choosing the best metering mode depends on many factors, like your subject, its position in the frame, and the light of the scene. You can always decide to over or underexpose your image on purpose, but adjusting the right metering mode is crucial both in automatic and manual mode.
The main metering modes in Nikon are matrix, center-weighted, and spot metering. The basic metering modes in Canon are evaluative, center-weighted, spot metering, and partial metering.
The available metering modes in Sony cameras are Multi, center, spot, and entire screen average. I hope this metering modes tutorial has helped you understand the main metering modes and metering systems in photography. To understand camera metering modes better, as well as the difference between the main modes like spot metering vs. If you have any questions related to camera metering modes , please leave them in the comments below!
Dan Zafra. Dan is a professional nature and landscape photographer, photography educator, and co-founder of Capture the Atlas. His base camp is in Philadelphia, USA, but he spends long periods of time exploring and photographing new locations around the world.
Apart from shooting the Milky Way , the Northern Lights , and any landscape that can stir powerful emotions, he enjoys leading photo tours to some of the most remote places on Earth. You can find more about Dan here.
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